The Fallen Soldier
by Golden boomers
Summary: A hispanic super-soldier from the distant future of 2479 has found himself stranded on a foreign planet. His name? Scott Celaya Anderson. Trained to handle any situation, he is lost once circumstances force him to live in the peaceful lands of Equestria. Join him as he attempts to fit in, find happiness, and leave his violent past behind. Credit to Andrew Voelkl for art
1. The Fallen Soldier (1)

The Fallen Soldier

Chapter 1

"Far from home."

[hr]

Darkness, Darkness as far as the eye could see.

The man was floating in a endless void, Nothing or no one in sight for miles.

He coexisted in both a groggy and awake state. His mind unsure of his predicament. His body numb and without feeling.

He could think still, and think he did. But minutes of thinking brought no answer to this situation.

"Where am I?" The man wondered to himself. He picked at his brain for the past events that could have led to all this.

Oh. Right. Memories of a dark and foreboding circle consuming him and his crew filled his mind.

This was still no answer to the man's question however, he continued to aimlessly float in this limbo like state for seemingly hours. Nothing but his own thoughts and comments to keep himself company, and like any average man would.. He began to get a little stir crazy.

Then, there was a light.

It was dim at first, but over time It got brighter, And brighter, and brighter, almost to the point that it rivaled the sun itself. The light was so bright that not even his hand could properly block it. He felt warm though, as the light slowly enveloped his body, he felt like he was being healed or cleansed of something, Like a great burden was lifted off his back.

The lighted faded away and then the pain started.

Oh the pain! How it hurt! His bones ached! His muscles were sore! Every part of his body felt as if it was on fire! And then the pain disappeared as fast as it came, and with its disappearance came a new enlightenment.

He felt energetic, Like he could run a thousand miles at top speed and lift 5 trucks while doing so. The same light from before appeared, Though this time it wasn't as bright. This time the light didn't make his eyes ache when he stared into it, instead it shined down on him. Giving him the sudden need to want to WAKE UP so he may leave this limbo like state.

Then there was beeping, it was quiet at first, hiding behind the mans thoughts. It grew louder and louder as time passed, it gave him a sense of worry. The beeping reminded the man of the countless times he's visited hospitals.

For good reasons or for bad reasons.

He continued to float, nothing happening, the light still shining upon him, the beeping still beeping, but only louder. He began to feel faint feeling's over his body, like someone was roughly poking him. It annoyed him.

It reminded him of the flys that would hang around his face, never wanting to go away.

"Bastards." He mumbled to himself

As he floated, silently cursing Mother Nature he began hearing voices. The voices were intelligible whispers at first, but overtime turned into "in-door" talking. The beeping quieted down and the voices became much more clear.

-POV CHANGE-

"What is it?" The voice pondered.

"I don't know, Twilight wanted us to look after it for a bit so she could get some stuff" A second voice answered.

"I trust her judgement and all, but did she check to make sure it isn't alive? Or a threat for that matter?" The first voice wondered aloud.

"Now you're being paranoid, trust me it's dead. Now please focus more-"

"It's hand just moved!" The first voice quickly said.

"What?"

"It's hand! It moved! I swear to Celestia!" The first swore.

"Alright Redheart, you've been working with this thing for some time, you deserve a break. I'll get a Royal guard in here and we'll go get some sandwiches! How's that sound?" The second voice offered.

"Yeah.. That sounds-"

The figure that was laying limp on the bed began to move, both nurses noticed this and froze. Twilight claimed for the creature to be deceased, so why was it moving? The two women quickly overcame their fear and began to slowly back towards the door. Clearly evident on getting help, their pace quickened when the creature fully sat up, it's head turning as if it was lost or confused.

It continued to look about the room for roughly 4 seconds before it's.. Head stopped completely. Another 2 seconds later, which seemed like minutes to the nurses, it's head turned and faced them.

The black glass on is head reflected the two nurses, they could see their distorted reflections from halfway across the room. The creature attempted to rise from the chair but was stopped by the braces which held it down. The nurses sighed in relief, those braces couldn't be broken normally. Twilight herself enchanted them! Just in case the thing ever managed to rise from the dead.

The creature's head turned and looked at its hand. It examined the braces that held it down, moments later, It just simply yanked its hand and broke the brace!

Then it reached over to its other hand and attempted to unbuckle the brace, with very agile fingers it unlaced it and pulled the belt from the buckle. It then brought its hand up to its glass face and flexed its fingers, examining each finger before placing both hands on the side of the medical bed and sliding off.

The two nurses have measured the height of the creature, so they had an idea of how tall it truly was. But for the whole duration they've been working with the creatures unconscious body, so to see it actually stand up. Well, simply put. It's height was something to marvel at.

Regardless, The creature was a bit over the average male height, a whopping 6 feet and 6 inches. It had black skin that seemed to be stronger than steel, it's face was a black glass that gave a distorted reflection of everything that dared to look at it. The creature, now at its full height, started looking around the room. After it finished, the creature walked towards them but stopped roughly 8 steps away, it looked at them, and spoke, its voice sounded distant and scratchy.

"Where am I?" The creature asked.

Redheart, being a slightly more experienced nurse then her companion, bravely stepped forward and answered the question.

"P-Ponyville." She answered, fumbling on the P.

"Ponyville?" The creature repeated.

Nurse Redheart shook her head.

"What Galaxy sector?" The creature asked, surprising Nurse Redheart.

"What?" She asked, unsure on how to answer the strange question.

[hr]

My body felt incredibly stiff and sore all of a sudden, like I just got out of a Stasis Pod. I couldn't feel any signs of cryogenic afterburn, but I [i]could[/i] feel my lungs filling themselves with new [i]clean[/i] air. I could feel heart was beating once again, the life was being brought back to my body.

But I still couldn't see anything but black. Moments later I realized I was staring into my helmet. I tried to activate my suit, but my throat was dry and sore. Nothing but a squeak came out. I started panicking at this point, trying to move my body, only to be refused.

My body wouldn't respond to any commands, so I was forced to simply lay there and accept my predicament. As I waited, I hoped everything would play out fine.

The voices came from two women near me, their voices were calm and friendly. I simply listened to the conversation between the two while I laid in wait. Their topics of discussion constantly changed, occasionally switching to myself, they asked each other questions and mentioned names I did not recognize. Worst case scenario, I've been captured by the enemy.

But the idea contradicted the women's lack of knowledge on me and my AMAHS suit. Every human knows what I'm wearing and how dangerous I am. We were constantly advertised during get the Great War. We were the staple of human engineering, and we represented the entire Human race on the battlefield.

I simply continued to lay and listen. Gathering information. I waited for what seemed like forever, staring into pitch black. The women's talks were sometimes interrupted by a drill spinning to life. I'm confident they're trying to breach the armor on my suit. To my enjoyment, their petty attempts got them nowhere.

After a good time of waiting and occasionally trying to move. I actually managed to twitch my hand, the meager twitch brought great pain, but I fought through it and forced my hands into action. I began with bending my fingers, I even managed to shake my hand around, eventually I got a response from one of the voices.

"It's hand! It moved! I swear to Celestia!" One of the women shrieked.

Then as if magic, my body responded and "unlocked" itself, and my instant response was to sit up. And I did, much to the horror of my captors. I heard sounds of scuffling as they backed away from me.

[i]"Yeah."[/i] I thought. [i]"I hope you're ready to die.[/i]"

I still could not see, but a cold and emotionless voice, one which I recognized as the AI of my suits OS. Spoke through the speakers in my helmet.

"Mark-Four AMAHS Combat suit activating."

I could feel the strength returning to me.

"Scanning Suit Operators Condition."

I had to escape and find out what happened to my squad.

"Detecting... Zero Broken Bones. No Diseases. Blood Count.. Optimal."

Where am I?

"Attempting To Establish Contact With... Failure. Area unknown. Galaxy Sector.. Unknown. Location unknown."

That's not good.

"Finishing Boot Sequence. Activating Visor and HUD."

And then sight returned to me, the sudden light blinded me temporarily, a costly effect of gaining sight after adjusting to darkness. But, never-the-less, sight was in my grasp, and I was content. Putting my eyes to work, I began looking around the room I've been stuck in for so long.

It was a bright white room full of heavily outdated hospital equipment. There were also two very scared looking women occupying the space near the door, dressed as some old fashioned nurses. I was surprised they didn't leave during my suits long boot up sequence. The two must've been scared shitless. My thoughts of revenge on my captors were replaced with questions.

These two wouldn't do me any harm, and something about them crouching before me in fear solidified the thought. They're just civilians.

I tried to reach out, but my hand suddenly stopped. Looking down, I discovered I've been chained to the bed with cuffs the entire time. The cuffs glowed a faint purple. I frowned and jerked my left arm up, simply snapping the cuff in two. Before proceeding to reach over myself and undo the cuffs on my right wrist.

With both hands free, I took the time to examine them, nothing seemed off. A inky substance was on the fingertips of my armored gloves. Have these people been taking fingerprints of my gloves?

I patted my sides and checked for any firearms, which there were none. But I did have my Plasma sword. Regardless, I'll properly examine myself later, first things first. Stay calm, and find out where the hell I am.

I placed each hand on their respective side of the bed and pushed myself off. The mattress groaned and creaked as my weight shifted off. Everything below my chest felt numb, causing me to fumble with the whole balancing act that came with standing. I almost fell over. I recovered rather quickly and took a look at the medical equipment near me. The technology was primitive, but it fascinated me nonetheless.

I turned and looked at the crouched women. When our eyes met, they both looked away. I began approaching them, and the two nurses, knowing I was walking towards them, started to push harder against the door. The fearful look on their faces caused my normally hardened self to soften a bit.

Choosing the friendly approach, I took a deep breath and asked a question that has plagued my mind for so long.

"Where am I?" I asked in what little sweet of a voice I could manage.

One of the nurses, presumably the more experienced one, stood and stepped forward to answered my question.

"P-Ponyville." Her voice stuttered as she spoke.

"Ponyville?" I wondered aloud, "What Galaxy Sector?" My attempts at seeming nice were ruined by my raspy voice.

The same nurse shook her head, "I don't understand, I'm sorry. Pleasedonthurtme." She quickly spat the last part out.

I stared at the woman, the other nurse still cowered behind the one I was talking with. Ignoring her last sentence. I thought up some friendly banter.

"So.. May I get your name?" I asked her.

She proceeded to obviously think it over and then hesitantly respond, "Yes. Yes you may, I'm Nurse Redheart and the woman behind me is Nurse Lily."

Redheart? Lily? I could see Lily as a name but not Redheart.

I thought my next words over carefully, "it's wonderful to meet you.. Redheart and Lily. [b]My name is Scott Anderson[/b]."

I stuck my hand out in an attempt to handshake, Redheart realized my gesture and shakes my hand in response. "The two of you can relax, I mean no harm to you." I claim, following with, "Actually, if it helps I can take the helmet off."

Redheart simply nods and Lily finally steps out from behind Redheart.

"I'm gonna warn you right now, I'm not so different from you. Don't expect tentacles or anything alright?" I offer the warning, and then issue the command to my A.M.A.H.S. suit to retract the helmet.

(Now.. If you've played a Dead Space game, you'll know what I mean)

The nurses gasp once the helmet retracts into my suits collar, I opened my eyes and looked at them. No longer having to look through the suits visor gave the world a more natural look, but really looked no different.

"See, I'm human."

The two women were speechless.

Maybe the thought of me just being a simple human shook them to the core? They were totally expecting tentacles or something really hideous.

"I'm going to need an escort out of this building." I demand, breaking the two of their stupor.

"Oh, uh, right. Sorry, Uh.. Mister." Redheart stutters out.

"Anderson. Call me Anderson." I asked of her, before motioning for both of the women to move aside. "Can I expect any guards in the building?" I ask, in which the two women watch me twist the doorknob and walk into the hospitals empty hallway.

Lily answers with, "No sir."

I frown, "Just call me Anderson."

I motion for them to both follow me, "Let's walk and talk."

"What is the name of this planet."

Redheart answers with, "Earth."

"What nation am I currently in?"

"Why, Equestria of course!" Redheart excitingly answers.

I quickly ran "Equestria" through my suits database. It doesn't show up, much to my disappointment.

"What are you wearing?" Lily asks.

I chose to ignore her question and ask another question myself, "Does the name 'America' make any sense to you?"

She shakes her head.

"Does the Slotherian council make any sense to you?"

She shakes her head.

"How about Gencilshelps?"

She shakes her head.

"Renotypeos?"

She shakes her head.

I stopped in my tracks.

"What year is it?" I turn towards the two women.

"1859." Redheart replies.

I think that's where I died a little on the inside. Apparently I traveled [i]back[/i] in time. Last I checked, matter of fact, my HUDs clock was STILL set to 2479. My stomach was running laps on the inside, but on the outside, my face was still as stone.

"Really." I mumbled. Before stepping up to a window to look out into the outside world.

I didn't notice it before, but it was snowing. Making everything a crisp white, except all the people walking down the streets. Carriages drawn by horses left black marks as they traveled down the streets. In the distance, all I saw was white and trees. Frankly, I couldn't even begin to comprehend the situation. My heart rate was speeding up so fast my suit was giving me health warnings. But I couldn't bring any words to mind.

I stepped away from the window and turned to the two confused nurses behind me. I asked a question, "Who found me and where can I find them." Although it didn't sound like a question, I more or less demanded a answer.

Lily must've sensed the tone of my voice, because she responded quickly. "Twilight Sparkle, she lives in Golden Oak Library. It's the giant tree, you can't miss it."

At this point, I kinda just went dark. My mind stuck in a endless loop of questions that I couldn't bother to dig myself out of. I mumbled a quick thanks, and started walking down the empty halls in a hopeless attempt of finding my own way out. I didn't even realized there were signs pointing towards the exit.

Turning down a hall, my thoughts were broken by several men dressed in bright yellow armor.

"There he is!" One of the men yelled.

The entire squad turned and aimed [i]Crossbows[/i] at me.

On natural instinct, I raised my helmet and flicked my wrist. A Green-ish plasma sword shot out of a device on my wrist. I had every intent on killing the men if they attempted to harm me. It would be justified self-defense in my case. Then I tried to look at things their way. A deranged creature of no origins was stomping through the [i]Hospital[/i] of this peaceful village. I deactivated my plasma-sword and raised my hands.

"It's surrendering?" Claimed one of the men.

"So? You know our orders." Another replied.

"But it's surrendering!" The same man complained.

"The Princess knows what she's doing." The assumed leader spoke, before ordering. "FIRE!"

At that point, five Crossbow bolts flew down the hall and made contact with brutal efficiency. But it didn't matter, the five Bolts bounced off of my suits energy shields and fell to the floor. At this point, I felt justified to repay the favor. But was stopped by a terrified look on the face of one of the men.

Harming any of the people here will just make it harder to get answers. I need to prevent myself from becoming the Monster that everyone [i]thinks[/i] I am.

So I turned and jumped out the second story window.

I'm augmented, my natural legs were replaced with highly advanced metal versions. So the fall was nothing. My suit made the fall survivable by itself anyway. I hit the ground with a thud, before standing and walking down the back alley like it was nothing. I could hear the men yelling at each other. But their cries of failure disappeared when I stepped onto a public road. I lowered my helmet and look around the area.

As I watched a horse drawn carriage stroll past me, it's driver covered head to toe in snow gear. Only then did the cold began to seep in, and with my face being the only thing revealed to it all, it hit me pretty hard. I considered raising my helmet, but with the reception I got from the two nurses, I decided against it. I took a look around for the sake of familiarizing myself, then focused on spotting the giant tree.

As quickly as I expected, I saw the giant tree over a distant building. Looking behind me, I figured I outta leave now rather than later. So I began walking down the road.

I had a plan. For as simple and easy as it might've been, it was something to keep me busy.

[b]Far from home[/b]

Far from any help.

I started looking at everyone I walked past. I felt out of place. This wasn't home.

Far from it actually.


	2. A burlap sack fit for a king (2)

The Fallen Soldier

Chapter 2

"Come on buddy! Get out of the way!" A voice called out behind me.

Surprised, I quickly moved to my right letting a man and his wagon stroll past. As I watched the horses calmly walk away, I heard a faint "Pssst!"

Turning my head, I was welcomed to the sight of a kids head popping out of the white fabric covering the wagon. The little boy asked, "Want an apple mister? It'll be 8 bits!" He looked at me like he expected me to know what a bit was.

"Sorry kid, ain't got no money," I replied, patting the parts of my armor where I'd normally have pockets.

He frowned and looked me in the eyes. "Are you homeless mister? You ain't dressed like everyone else."

"I'm fine kid." I huffed.

His head disappeared inside the wagon, moments later he popped out again. This time, an arm came with him, he tossed me a single apple. Which I caught with ease.

Looking at the apple in my hand, I felt a twinge of hunger suddenly. I looked at the boy and smiled, "Thanks kid, I won't forget this."

The small boy gave me a beaming smile in return, "Nothing to it mister! Just don't tell my dad I gave that to you for free!"

I chuckled, "I won't."

He smiled again and disappeared behind the white fabric. I stopped and watched the wagon snail away. Feeling grateful for the boy's hospitality, I took a bite out of the apple. My mouth was overwhelmed with its sweetness, something about it told me it was all grown with love.

Looking around, I realized I walked past a turn I should've taken forever ago. Turning around, I corrected myself and reset myself back on the path to Golden Oak.

[hr]

Golden Oaks Library.

It certainly lived up to the 'Oak' in its name, seeing as it was built inside of a giant oak tree. From a designers perspective, it was actually pretty cool. But I wasn't here to admire.

The door was large and made out of some kind of wood with a large metal ring attached to it along with a small bell at the top. I pushed on the door which opened with a loud ring of a bell. Stepping inside, I was immediately thankful to be out of the cold.

Actually, it wasn't much warmer in here. But the cold no longer nipped at my face, so it was an improvement in my book.

"I'll be down in a bit!" Called out a male voice from upstairs.

I reply with, "I just need to see a Twilight Sparke!"

I was expecting a boy to walk down the stairs. But was surprised by a small lizard-like creature stepping down.

"I'm sorry. But Twilight left for the hospital, not that lo-" The lizard froze when he saw me. He looked at me for at least 4 seconds before turning and dashing back upstairs.

"OH NO! IT'S ALIVE!" He shouted.

I calmly followed him upstairs, all while searching for the right thing to say. "Listen! I'm not going to hurt you! I just wanna talk about some things!"

The lizard shouted back, "Twilight said you might not be the talking type!"

Unsure as to why she'd say something like that, I realized that she likely found me armed to the teeth. I couldn't remember exactly but stopped thinking about it when I caught the lizard trying to climb out of a window.

"Hey, that doesn't seem like the smartest thing to do!" I exclaimed, "We're almost 3 stories high!"

The lizard faltered, "But what if you eat me or something?" He asked, his body already partly out the window.

I groaned, "And why the hell would I do that!" Realizing that my frustration was showing, I took a deep breath and calmly said. "Look, I've just woken up. I'm on some unknown planet and I've got no idea on how to get back home. I just need some answers, and maybe a location so I know where I've gotta go next. Can you help me?" I asked, letting my more passionate side show.

The lizard seemed to be in deep thought. After a moment of silence, however, he got off the window and brushed himself off.

"Yes, I can help. But no funny but-"

This time he was cut off by a woman yelling, "SPIKE!"

The small lizard supposedly named Spike, replied with, "I'm upstairs Twilight! With the guy you found!"

After he said that, all I could hear was feet stomping up the stairs. "Stay away from it Spike! It's highly dangerous!"

I glanced at Spike, who didn't respond in any way. Turning back to the door, a woman dressed in jeans and a thick looking winter jacket appeared. Before I could say anything, she raised her hand which began to glow a bright purple.

"Don't move!" She ordered. "O-Or I'll do something neither one of us will like!"

On instinct, I raised my helmet and readied myself for anything. "This isn't necessary!" I advised, "We can talk this out like adults!"

Twilight was making her way to Spike with her glowing right hand still pointed at me. "Come on Spike," She ordered, "We should let the Royal Guards handle him."

Spike opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself.

I continued, "I just wanna find my way home. I've got no reason to harm anyone, and I'm not planning on it anytime soon!" Watching her face for any sign of change, I was disappointed to see her still eyeing me like I just murdered a box of kittens.

"I just wanna know how you found me!" I lowered my helmet and looked her in the eyes.

Her stare softened, "You don't remember?" She asked.

I shook my head, everything about what I was doing before I arrived here was nothing but a blur.

"We found you near a burning metal structure in the Everfree. I wanted to see if anyone else was on board, but the structure exploded not longer after we pulled you out." Twilight started to lower her hands.

I felt a twinge of regret for some reason, but it was lost on me. So instead I wanted to ask a million more questions. But the first one to leave my mouth was, "Can you help me return home?"

Twilight frowned, "I don't know where your home is. And I'm sorry to say, but the Princesses have ordered your capture."

Rage overcame me, but I tried to hide it as best as I could. "And what the fuck do they plan on doing?!" I instead just managed to violently ask my question.

Twilight frowned. "I'm sorry. After what the Princesses told me about you, and since I found out about your escape. I knew I had to put the safety of others before my own morbid curiosity." She raised her hand again, its purple color quickly returned.

"I can't let you leave." She stated, "The Princesses have ordered your capture with a Dead or Alive option, and I don't want to do anything drastic. So please don't make me."

Moments after she said that, I heard dozens of war cries downstairs. Then the sound of at least a dozen men trying to all come up the stairs at once. The same men from the hospital appeared, but now there was just more of them. I assumed they were the Royal Guard Twilight mentioned before.

Admittedly, has time slowed down and I considered all my options. Everything seemed to aim towards violence, but I had a gut feeling, and the gut feeling told me to just surrender. I prayed to all the gods I know, just let these people spare me. And if they don't.

May I live long enough to find my own way back home.

The first guardsmen to rush in shouted, "Surrender now! We have been granted the authority to use lethal countermeasures should you fight back!"

I didn't respond, instead, I just got on my knees and put my arms behind my head. And as 15 men all dressed in gold shuffled into the room, I considered my future, everything I accomplished up till now, and why I couldn't remember how I got here.

And my last thought before guardsmen slammed me onto the ground and began to yell all the 'rights' I had into my ear. Was how all the men looked so alike.

Eventually, one of the guards tried to picked me up, but couldn't.

[hr]

"Are you feeling okay?" Someone whispered into my ear.

[i]No[/i], I thought to myself. [i]Far from it[/i].

Not long after the guards got me on my feet, one of them shoved a bag over my head. Preventing me from seeing anything, and from raising my helmet. I'm also pretty sure they put cuffs on me.

For the sake of getting this all over with, I didn't fight them when they escorted me downstairs and outside. And when they told me to sit on some seat so one of them could buckle me in, I did so peacefully.

"No." I deadpanned. "I could be a lot better."

The voice didn't reply for a while, but eventually they asked, "Do you need water or anything?" Before quickly adding, "Do you drink water?"

The voice sounded familiar and feminine. With no solid evidence, I said, "I'd like to know where we're going."

"Well." The voice paused, "We haven't left yet but we're taking you to see the princess's."

"Can I at least get a heads-up on what's gonna happen to me?" I asked.

"I can't say I know what's going to happen to you because I don't know what is going to happen to you." The voice replied.

At this point, I heard the voice talk enough to realize that I've been talking to Twilight Sparkle. "Yeah," I sighed, "I'd like some water if you wouldn't mind."

Moments later, the sack over my head was pulled off. Much to my expectations, I [b]was[/b] talking to Twilight, who was sitting right next to me inside of a wagon.

Twilight pulled a bottle of water out from behind her, "I'll hold it for you okay?" She seemed to question, holding the water away from me.

I looked down at the cuffs on my wrists, then back at her. "Of course."

Hesitantly, she held the bottle up to my lips. Tilting it slightly, a stream of crystal clean water hydrated my mouth. The bottle ran dry before I even realized it. As she pulled it away, my mind decided that I was feeling a little bit of everything. Hunger, thirst, exhaustion, annoyed, angry, sad, thankful, you name it and I'm probably feeling it.

"You must be really thirsty," Twilight stated.

I ignored her and tried to look outside the wagon. Instead, I moved away in surprise when two guards suddenly opened the door and climbed inside. They sat across from me and Twilight, both men stared me down before the one on the right thumped his fist on the wall.

The wagon suddenly jerked, then we were on the move. Twilight tried to ask me some questions, but I ignored her and looked outside. As I watched the buildings pass by, I began to notice that the wagon was starting to move up. I thought, [i]Maybe we're just going up a hill[/i].

But as I watched the buildings get smaller and smaller, It dawned on me. We were [i]FLYING[/i].

"Twilight!" I exclaimed, "We're FLYING?!"

She smiled, "Yes. Yes, we are."

"But how!?" I asked, looking out the window again.

"Magic." She simply replied.

I think that's where it killed it for me. "Bullshit." I deadpanned.

Twilight winced at the word, but continued, "I can understand why." she added, "But I'd rather you some questions while I still can."

The way she said that worried me, "An answer for an answer Twilight."

Twilight nodded rather quickly, "Me first, though." She pulled a small notepad out from her jacket along with a pencil. "Where are you from?" She asked, studying my face.

"Born on Earth, Illinois."

Now it was my turn, "Where are we going?"

Twilight answered, "Canterlot," adding, "To see the princess's."

She scribbled something down and asked, "Who are you?"

I thought over the question, "Scott Celaya Anderson. Military rank; Staff sergeant, I've served 13 years and I plan on serving more."

Twilight wrote it all done and looked at me, "Your turn." She said.

"Tell me about the princesses? What about the King and Queen?"

"The princess's are Celestia and her sister Luna. Beyond that, we haven't had a King or Queen in over 789 years."

I was a little curious as to why since that seemed a little odd.

"What can you tell me about the thing you're wearing. And how it managed to block crossbow bolts with being physically touched?"

Technically, I wasn't allowed to reveal information like that. But I did anyway, honesty was the only way I'd be able to (maybe) walk away unharmed.

"It's called a AMAHS suit, worn by a highly elite class of soldiers. The suit comes equipped with technology that emits a constant stream of energy around me. I can't disclose any delicate details because I am under oath." I watched her scribble something in her journal.

I wanted to know the whereabouts of my stuff, so I asked, "What happened to everything on me?"

Twilight seemed hesitant to answer, "It's in a safe place. And before you ask, I can't give anything back to you unless Celestia herself lets me."

I sighed at her response, no ounce of surprise made its way inside me.

Twilight wasted no time with her next question, "You said that only an elite class of soldiers wear one. And you are in one, so. . . What are you capable of?"

I smiled, "If I really wanted too." I moved my hands apart, stretching the metal chain. "I could snap these cuffs in half and kill everyone on this wagon, but I'm not going to. Because I just want to find my way back home, no one needs to die for me to accomplish this."

I eyed the guards, "If I am for whatever reason attacked, I [b][i]will[/b][/i] kill anyone who tries to stop me from finding a way home."

One of the men gulped, the other huffed and said, "Put the bag back on him, I'm tired of hearing his voice."

Twilight said, "Sorry." And slid the bag over my head. Plunging me into a world of darkness.

The rest of the ride was quiet.


	3. The Talk (3)

The Fallen Soldier

Chapter 3

So much has happened in such a little time, it's like every second something new gets thrown at me. Now? Now I'm on my way to meet some princesses and. . . Hell I don't even know. I'm trying to just roll with the punches, but these punches are starting to hit a little harder. It complicates things.

After we landed and I said my goodbyes to Twilight. A single guard pushed me along and told me to start walking, he said he'd guide me to our endpoint. Most of the walk was quiet, occasionally we'd stop so he could talk to other guards, sometimes he'd show some badge that proved his rank or clearance. I still had the sack on my head, and the guard refused to take it off.

Once we were finally inside some building, he started talking to me. "So you're the guy from space huh?"

Taking a moment to think over an answer, I spoke, "Yeah. I'm the guy from space."

The male voice replied, "What's it like up there?"

"Lonely."

"What about the view? Isn't that something to admire?"

"I've spent most of my life in space, it lost its charm after a while."

He didn't reply after that, probably disappointed. Didn't matter though, after one last turn into another long hallway, we arrived wherever we were going.

When we finally came to a halt, another unknown male voice spoke, "This that guy?"

The ever-so space curious guard responded, "Yes, make sure you keep an eye on him. He's apparently highly dangerous."

I huffed, "Take these cuffs off and I'll show you how dangerous I am."

Another new voice chuckled, "Alright, take the bag off."

When the bag was removed, I looked towards the new voices. What I saw was a bearded man in his late 40's. Next to him was a young looking guy likely in his mid 20's. Both men were well-built and likely took their job very seriously. They guarded a giant fancy door that must lead to some form of meeting area.

The old man snapped his fingers to get my attention and said, "The princess and her sister shall see you now. Remember to kneel."

A sigh escaped my lips before I stepped forward, watching the two guards open the fancy door. As I stepped through, the younger gentlemen grabbed my shoulder and whispered, "You better act good around them. Answer every question with the utmost respect, otherwise we've got dozens of men on standby."

After he let go, I took a couple steps forward before turning around to flip him off. He frowned and closed the door. Performing a 180 turn, I found myself in a large and partially empty room. A long red carpet started from the door and led to the other side of the room, where two women sat on thrones. They must be the princesses I've heard so much about.

As I approached the women, I admired the series of stained glass windows on both sides of the room. Each one seemed to tell a story, while others just had a picture of a rising sun and setting moon. Maybe there was something to it that I didn't understand, hard to say.

Stopping a couple feet away from the stairs that lead to their thrones. I lowered myself onto a knee and bowed my head, hating every second of it.

The almost heavenly voice announced, "Rise."

And so I did.

"We have heard of your unfortunate arrival." Spoke the Princess on the left, her multicolored hair flowed through the wind even though there was no breeze.

"We know what you are." Spoke the same woman, "We have dealt with your kind before."

I didn't say anything, assuming that I needed permission to speak.

"However, you are the first one we've managed to talk to without violence breaking out." The woman stood from her throne. Her dress hugged her body and highlighted every curve she had.

"My name is Celestia and the brooding one is my sister, Luna." She motioned to the other woman, "We would like to ask a couple questions." She stepped towards me and hovered her hand over my cuffs. They unlocked themselves and fell to the floor.

Focusing on Celestia, I asked, "Permission to speak Ma'am."

Celestia frowned for a split second, "There is no need for such a thing, you may speak freely." She turned to Luna, "Let us talk now Sister. Come now."

Luna didn't seem to care though, her gaze was that of a kid in school, uncaring.

Celestia sat back in her throne, she "Let us begin. What is your name?"

I answered, "Scott Celaya Anderson."

"Where are you from Mr. Anderson?"

"Earth."

"And what species are you?"

"Human."

Celestia paused for a moment, eyeing my armored body, before following with, "Why are you on our planet?"

When no answer came to mind, I settled with, "I believe I crashed landed here."

It felt like she was judging me. One long unbearable silence later, she asked, "I'd like to know about your future plans."

My response was honest, "I don't know." Moments after I finished speaking, I could tell that Celestia didn't care for the answer, as her stare seemed to tenfold in intensity.

Memories of past events began to resurface within my head. Everything was starting to feel distant, the world around me became blurry while everything began to spin violently. And just as fast as it came, it went. As my head cleared itself, I found myself on my knees, with Celestia and Luna looking down at me.

"What would you like us to do Mr. Anderson?" Asked Celestia, her gaze softened.

I slowly got back on my feet, the back of my head felt like it was on fire. "I don't know." The words poured out, nothing felt right.

"Would thou like us to assist in your return home?" Luna asked, finally joining the conversation.

I nodded, suddenly stumbling backwards until I fell on my ass. My brain was a fumbling mess, It felt like the first time I finished mentally pairing with an A.I. The sensation is difficult to explain, no matter however many times I try.

"I apologise Mr. Anderson, I had not realized the lack of magic in your body." Spoke Celestia, as she turned to face her sister. "Dear sister, please tell me that you also see the void within this room."

Luna replied, "I see it as well."

"I'm sorry about the headache." Celestia apologised, "It will pass over eventually, but you must understand why I did it." she looked away briefly, "the last time we dealt with something from space it didn't end well."

Luna chipped in, "Those were [b]Your[/b] men sister. I was still absent in those times."

Celestia smiled at her, "Of course."

Groggily, I asked, "What did you do to me?" Before slowly getting back on my feet.

"I attempted a very brief memory search." Celestia answered. "I was immediately cut off by the lack of magic in your body." She finished. "I'm sure you still remembered something however."

Truth be told, I couldn't help but remember the one time I punched someone years ago.

"Did you just mindfuck me?" I asked, completely serious.

Luna scoffed, "It's certainly not something approved of."

Celestia hushed her and smiled, "I'd like to trust you Mr. Anderson." She reached behind her and pulled a rolled piece of paper out. "You're the second creature to fall from space within the last 60 years, it's a fantastic discovery that has proved our theories on alien life."

She frowned, "however." The scroll in her hand suddenly took to the air and floated towards me, "The last creature from space wasn't as talkative as you."

The scroll dropped onto my open palm, I opened it and was welcomed to a highly detailed, although crude, picture of a dead Fargarthian.

(Far - garth - ian )

"What is this?" I asked, "This thing doesn't resemble me at all."

"I see that now." Spoke Celestia, "You must forgive me, I never got to personally meet the creature." Her eyes narrowed, "It self-destructed long before I could ever arrive."

I didn't know what to say, so I asked, "what is it you want from me?"

"I want answers," She demanded. "Answers for my own well being, and for the families who lost someone that night."

"I don't know what to say." I glanced back at the picture then at the princess again, "I wasn't there."

"You recognise the creature though?"

"Yes. It's a Fargarthian, a species that dates back thousands of years." I thought for a moment, "This looks like a Hilschlep, you must've really pissed him off for him to just self-destruct."

( Hilschlep = Highly trained soldier in combat armor.)

Luna joined saying, "We don't know the details. There were only two survivors, and their accounts of the happening was rather poor. "

Celestia glared at Luna, "Forgive them sister. Even I was rather disgusted by the mess when I arrived."

Luna flared her nostrils and looked away.

"How many died?" I asked, fully expecting a considerable number.

"Fifteen of our best." Celestia answered, seemingly recalling the scene, "Some were. . . spread out, while others had large spherical burns on their chests."

"Sounds like plasma rifles, this must've happened a long time ago then. Plasma weapons were banned twenty years ago."

"I can imagine way." Celestia nodded, "The way those men suffered. Terrible."

I rolled the paper and looked around, "So what's gonna happen to me then? I've no intention of hurting anyone, and I'd be more than happy to answer questions."

"You have cooperated." Celestia rested her head on her hand, thinking, likely.

"Well [b]I'd[/b] like you to explain what these are." Luna spoke, her hand glowed a dark purple and a big box suddenly appeared to my right.

I popped the lid open and peered inside, "This is all my gear." Truth be told, seeing all my gear made me a little happy.

"Weapons?" Asked Luna, ruining my reunion with my gear.

"Of course." I reply, "It's what I'm paid to do."

"It's certainly a lot." Celestia added.

"I'm required to be ready for anything." I replied. "Did you mess with any of it?"

Luna chuckled and Celestia frowned, speaking, "Someone was put in the hospital after a researcher pulled something. I had it all sealed immediately until I could personally examine it."

"Can I take something out?" I asked, rather than just reaching in.

Celestia nodded, sweetly adding, "Just know that any attempt of attack will be met with your instant demise."

I nodded and reached into the box, pulling out my rifle, the Labroan GTS44. An 8 pound, semi-automatic rifle chambered in .308 and meant only for the baddies. Ejecting the magazine, I confirmed my thought.

Some dumb motherfucker shot his friend with my gun.

"How does it work?" Asked Luna, her interest piqued.

I replied, "It shoots lead at fast speeds." My description was basic, probably even meant for a kid.

Luna went silent, intently focused on the rifle in my arms. Celestia spoke up, "I had the guards remove anything came off without a fight. Now, I'm willing to give you an opportunity to help me trust you." Her eye's narrowed, "Do you have any weapons on you?"

AN uneasy feeling came over me. I wanted them to trust me, but giving them my plasma sword left me with no way of defending myself. In the end, though, I reluctantly removed the plasma sword from my wrist and dropped it in the box.

"Plasma sword." I state, "super-heated plasma contained by magnets in the shape of a sword." I cross my arms and add, "My suit is also technically a weapon, but it isn't coming off anytime soon."

Luna asked, "Do you need special tools?"

"No." I reply. "Under the book of Artemis, section 45, page 23, paragraph 3. Under no circumstances unless instructed by an authorized individual will I remove the AMAHS suit."

"And if I demand you to remove the suit?" Celestia asks.

"Then I am obligated to tell you that I have now activated the emergency self-destruct safeguard. Should I leave this suit for whatever reason, it will self-destruct with the force of 12 kilotons of TNT." I hardened my glare, "Such an explosion [b]will[/b] level this city and destroy the very mountain it is built upon."

Celestia stared me down, but it was naught, I've faced worse. She broke the glare first, speaking, "Keep the suit then. Just explain everything else in the box."

I deactivated the self-destruct sequence and reached into the box. I pulled out a large handgun.

"This is my sidearm, the SAS-24, it fires .45 and has been customized beyond your imagination." I reached into the box and pulled out a shotgun, "This is my shotgun, it's a double-barreled pump action monster, I only have 36 1 and a half ounce slug shells."

* * *

(For the sake of my laziness, I shouldn't have to explain how a shotgun and handgun works so I won't. I just wanted to introduce the guns in the most shittiest way.)

An hour went by faster than I thought. The princesses appreciated my explanations, Luna even stepped down for a more 'personal' explanation as she so put it. But she spent more time looking at my guns then she did me.

I wasn't carrying a miniature armory on my back mind you. I had everything I'd need for combat deployment on an abandoned space station. Handgun, Shotgun, rifle (with shortened barrel ), and extra mags for everything.

When I finally finished, Celestia had me return everything and zapped the box away with a snap of her fingers. I was finding it harder to rationalize these 'magical' moments. But I held strong.

* * *

"What are the chances of me ever getting my stuff back?" I asked.

"When I can trust you." She answered. "Until then, I'd like for you to stay in the castle for a couple days. The two of us would like to get to know you a little better." Celestia stood up and motioned for Luna to follow.

"I'll have Hover prepare your room while we both personally show you around the castle."

The two giant doors opened, revealing a hall full of guards. "Ladies." I say as I pass them, walking behind Luna.

They didn't find it funny.

 **Authors note -**

 **Hey guys it's me the author!**

 **So just in case you didn't know, you can find my story on Fimfiction. And it has a kajillion more chapters and words (not really), but you know what I mean. However, it is in 2nd person until the somewhat end of it, where I then switched to 1st person.** **Beyond that, thanks for reading and hopefully I'll see you all next time.**

 **Stay Golden and make sure you comment and tell me what you think about my story. I love CONSTRUCTIVE criticism.**


	4. A Week With the Royals - Day One (4)

The Fallen Soldier

Chapter 4 part 1

 **Author's note-**

 **Hey everyone! It's me the author. I'm just here to say something real quick.**

 **This chapter was supposed to be much larger, showcasing a whole 5 days in one chapter. But since I felt like it would take too long, I decided to post day one of the big chapter. Of course I'm only going to do this on Fanfiction, if you read this story on Fimfiction, then youll just get a big chapter that combine all the little chapters. So I guess in a way you guys get things a little early!**

 **(I'm doing this because I don't want to replay too many chapter on Fimfiction. If you didn't know, this is actually a rewritten version of the main story.)**

Day One (This is on the same day as last chapter.)

I've been thinking. What if I wind up living here for the rest of my damn life? What will I do with myself? I pondered the idea for the entirety of my tour throughout the castle. When Celestia and Luna suddenly stopped and ceased their seemingly endless barrage of facts about the castle. I found myself forced from my thoughts and focused on the princesses as they showed me a fancy garden.

"This is the royal garden." Says Celestia, as she turns and waves at a woman watering some flowers. "You won't find much here except flowers and our four gardeners."

I waved at the woman watering flowers. She gave me a weird look and continued what she was doing.

"Sorry." Celestia smiles, "She doesn't like strangers in her garden."

I shrug and say, "It's fine. Let's just move on."

"Of course." She replies happily, "Next is the kitchen."

1 hour and a half later -

I never realized how boring a medieval castle could be. Maybe I presumed the fun factor to be too high? Yes, that's likely it. And as Celestia finished up her speech about the royal kitchen and the many historic things that took place here. I was happy that it was all done.

And to be honest, the only interesting story was the one where she had a food fight with the dictator of another country. I didn't think it was true until some fifty year old chef confirmed the story.

My tour ended with Celestia and Luna showing me to my room in the right wing of the castle.

"And this is your room." Spoke Celestia, as she opened a fancy wooden door.

I stepped in after the two princesses and admired my new cabin. A nice queen sized bed rested between two nightstands. And a glass door led to a balcony that overlooked the royal garden.

"Fantastic view." I admired aloud.

"Our gardeners take their jobs very serious." Celestia commented in reply.

I smiled and turned to the princesses, "So what happens now?"

"Get settled Anderson." She replied, "Dinner will start in three hours, and if you want I can have it delivered to the room if you wish."

"No need." I waved my hand, "I'll see you two in the dining room later."

Celestia nodded and smiled before leaving, Luna was already gone.

After I closed the door behind them, I immediately headed to the bathroom. The shower was screaming my name, but I didn't feel comfortable removing my armor. Yet I said 'fuck it' and activated the removal process.

I unclipped the helmet and twisted the armor on my forearm. It popped off with a hiss and then I moved on to loosen the armor on my legs. The second my legs came free I practically cried with joy. My torso armor unclipped from the back and I dropped it on the floor next to everything else.

All I had on now was the undersuit, a full body suit that played a larger role than many expected. I undid the many straps and peeled it off my skin. It felt disgusting.

Now I was naked, since wearing nothing under the suit was the only way to stay comfortable in long periods of use. The mirror above the sink was large enough to show most of my body. I had Scars, as expected, I actually had many scars. You don't go through everything I have and expect to not get scars. It's foolish.

I probed my left arm for any signs of damage. Ever since I had my actual arm sliced off by a plasma sword, I've been experiencing 'Ghost touch.' A simple name for a cruel condition that many have after being forced into Augmentation.

People kill themselves over this stuff. Although it's usually because they're against forced Augmentation, otherwise it's because they can't handle the constant feeling of a limb that isn't even there. My father was against Augmentation, he was a also a Christian, which is what made him believe that no man or woman should replace what god gave them.

And because of that belief, he died, refusing a simple surgery that would replace his bad heart and some other bodily issues. Unfortunately, I also had a bad heart, but I'm not against Augmentation, nor am I a Christian. So it was a simple replacement for me, amongst other things.

I twisted two knobs and balanced the hot and cold, before I stepped into the tub. Time flew as I spent well over twenty minutes soaking in warm water and cleaning myself. By time I finished and stepped out, the sun had already began to go down. It was getting dark out, and my internal clock has yet to be corrected to this planet's time.

I looked around the bathroom, my vision was partly covered by small boxes that read off information. At some point I must've unconsciously activated my HUD. It was useless however, a lot of the main features depended on information I did not have. The only working thing was the compass, which auto-corrected itself forever ago.

The clock was set wrong, the date was wrong, the ammo counter at the bottom right read NA, and my connection to my bank was broke. All my money lost, not that it matters though, even if I had every penny, it'd be worthless here. I dried myself and put my armor back on. I still had roughly two hours till dinner.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

[hr]

I walked around for a bit, until I found a staff member walking behind me. I politely asked him to bring me something alcoholic. When he came back with a bottle of whiskey, I offered to share it with him. But he refused, and said he had things to do.

Afterwards, I took a chair out on the balcony, sat down, and sipped on some of the best whiskey I've had in my life. An hour went by quickly and I activated one of my many augmentations to help ease any problems I may have.

I placed the half-empty bottle on my nightstand and walked to the kitchen. Where I had a nice fancy meal and a quick talk with the princesses, who asked me about how I'm enjoying things so far. I gave a par for the course answer and quickly returned to my room.

When the moon rose above the clouds, I couldn't sleep so I snuck out of my room and stayed in the library for most of the night. I used the time to read about Equestrian history. Everything I read was automatically scanned and archived in my suit database. I could now search my own digital library for any information should I need too.

At some point, I fell asleep.


	5. A Week With The Royals - Day Two (4)

Day Two

Something poked my side, and it kept doing it until I moved.

"You can't sleep in here. Get up." Commanded a womanly voice.

When I sat up, a large book fell from my chest and hit the floor with a thud. The same womanly voice said something about it, but my brain wasn't awake enough to consider her existence. So I ignored her and calmly got on my two feet.

Once on my two feet, I looked for the woman and soon realized I towered over her. I looked down at her and asked, "What's the time?"

Her wrinkled eyes looked down at a small watch on her wrist. "It's 6:34 in the morning." She answered, looking back up at me.

I knelt down and picked up the book that fell of my chest, it read, A Detailed Debriefing On Equestrian History. The woman before me glanced at the cover and asked, "Was it so boring that it put you to sleep?"

I sighed, gently shaking my head yes.

"Well, you might wanna hurry on to the princesses, there was a massive search party this morning when you weren't in your room." She followed with, "Some guards came in here earlier and I told them you were here. They left to tell the rest and asked me to wake you.

A frown worked its way onto my face, "Well, thanks." I held the book under my arm and asked, "Did you sleep well?"

The woman shook her head yes, saying "You best be on your way."

I started walking away, only looking back to say, "Then I'm taking this book with me. I'll bring it back later."

The woman looked like she wanted to say something, then shrugged and disappeared behind a bookshelf. I went along my way and found myself in the dining room, ready for breakfast.

\- [hr] -

Stepping into the dining room, my nostrils were overloaded with the smell of pancakes and eggs. I couldn't help but smile, the last time I had pancakes. . . . . Well it was a long time ago. Suddenly, I felt older than I actually was.

The two princesses sat patiently in their seats, their faces lit up when I stepped into the room. They more or less turned off those stone faces they have when handling royal duties. It made me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside, like I was special. Joking. I'm joking.

I found my same seat from yesterday, a couple seats away from Celestia and Luna. Pulling my seat out, I slid onto it and got comfortable. A waiter appeared from my left and lowered a plate of pancakes and eggs in front of me. He turned away and came back with a fancy syrup holder. As I so called it since I didn't know what it was.

"Your syrup sir." He spoke, placing the glass pot covered in blue flowers next to my plate.

He took a couple steps back and stood straight behind me, staring ahead at nothing, waiting for me to finish eating so he could handle my dishes.

The pancakes looked delicious, and the eggs gave a welcoming smell. However, before I started digging in, I picked up the syrup and slowly covered my pancakes. The syrup surely and slowly seeped over to my scrambled eggs.

I picked the fork and knife from the white napkin holding my silverware. Right before the knife cut into the first pancake, a swift cough came from in front of me. Looking up, Celestia looked at me and spoke, "How was your nap then?"

The giant book next to my plate spoke wonders, I swallowed my bite of pancake and replied, "Very good. I read up on your history and some other confusing books."

Celestia glanced at Luna, then poked at the eggs on her plate, she then laid the fork down. "What kind of books Anderson?"

I practically shoveled the eggs in my mouth, chewing as fast as possible before swallowing so I can say, "Just some old books about 'magic' written in some dialect I couldn't read."

Luna tore a pancake to shreds, bathing her second one in syrup. I watched in amazement as she destroyed all my expectations of old timey princesses. Luna noticed me looking at her and blushed gently before slowing down.

Celestia coughed to get my attention, "Forgive my sister. She's still relatively new to this."

Luna rolled her eyes, reminding me a of a teenanger in her most rebellious stage.

A smile flashed across my face, "It's fine." I say while rubbing a bit of pancake into a puddle a syrup building up on the plate.

The kitchen doors opened and closed behind me. "Just in time." Celestia speaks up, "I'd like you to meet someone."

Twisting in my chair, I came face to chest with a lightly armored women dressed in dark purple armor. She had a sheathed sword at her side, however, the most peculiar part of her outfit were the fake wings sticking from her back.

The strange woman also wore a helmet, with a couple strands of shiny blue hair poking out from the side. Frankly, It looked like she rushed to get here, as she was doing her best to hide her breathing. The iris of her eye's were a soft orange, and her pupil was replaced with a black streak. She looked like she was try cosplay as a dragon-human-thing.

I realized my plate was empty when I tried to eat nonexistent food off my plate. The butler was kind enough to notice this and take my plate to get more food.

"Thanks." I say as he scurries off with my plate.

Lady of the hour knelt behind me, she spoke, "Your highnesses."

Celestia nibbled on a pancake, "You may rise Feather." Afterwards, Celestia herself got up from her chair. "I'm sure you two haven't met yet Anderson," she looked at me, "But this is Feather."

Pushing the chair back, I stood up so I could look the women in the eyes.

Celestia continued, "I've decided to assign someone to watch over you." She looked at Feather, "And Feather here was recommended by Luna herself." She motioned to Luna, who was busy eating.

"Watch over how?" I asked.

"I'll be your shadow." Feather spoke for herself.

Celestia smiled at her and spoke, "I'm gonna have her linger behind you. Just to make sure you don't do anything."

"You don't trust me?" I asked.

"You left your room without telling anyone and I had to organize a search party across the entire city. No one decided to check the library until two hours after the search began." Celestia deadpanned.

"I'm. . . Sorry to have caused so much trouble." I rubbed the back of my head.

The princess smiled sweetly, "No need. Just know that Feather will stay with you until I decide you can roam freely. She will also take note of the things you do and report them back to me."

"Fair enough." I reply.

The princess sighed and looked back at her chair and the partially devoured meal on her plate. She looked back at me, "I have things to handle now that we've settled this." The princess walked to the exit and spoke to the butler standing there.

I sat back in my chair, Feather stood a bit to my left behind me. My new plate of food must've arrived a while ago. The fresh smell of newly made pancakes and eggs filled the air.

The food called for me to eat it. And I happily did.

[hr]

With nothing left to do, I set my sights back on the royal library. And true to her word, Feather was my shadow. Her quiet steps were accompanied by the rattling of her armor and sword.

"So tell me about yourself Feather." I ask, slowing down so were side by side.

"There isn't much to tell. I've been entrusted to watch you and that's exactly what I'll do." She replied.

"Just another job huh?" I asked, to which she nodded. "I can relate to that."

"How?" Asked Feather.

I smile, "I've been working in the military for 13 years. I've seen things, done things."

"Like what?"

"Fought in a massive galactic war and lived to tell the tale. Earned a promotion in the process." I pat the AMAHS suit.

"So what are you then? Grunt or something else?" Feather asked, suddenly interested in a conversation.

I looked away, "Seeing as I'm a rank 4 agent. I'm more or less a glorified grunt." The wall got boring, so I turned back and looked Feather in the eyes. "What about you?"

Feather scoffed, "I'm just some nobody that works in Luna's branch of the royal guard."

"Okay." I say, thinking over something else to say. "Are you wanna of those Valkyries I read about? Or are those wings fake?"

Feather gave me a dirty look, "These wings are real thank you very much."

"Can I touch them?"

"No!" Feather stopped walking and rubbed her temple. She sighed and looked up at me, "Look guy, I know that you're new here. But that's something you don't ask."

I chuckled awkwardly, "Sorry."

"It's okay. Just walk."

And so I did, until we reached the royal library. Afterwards, I read another fifty pages in the book I had taken earlier, then I had Feather walk me through Equestrian customs. Like why I couldn't touch her wings. Apparently that's sexual harassment.

Feather did her best to explain the three types of people I'll likely meet. First were the Mages; those born with the natural talent to utilize the magic in the air. Secondly, Valkyries; people who are born with wings and the awesome ability to fly. Lastly, the 'normals' are just average humans who can't fly nor cast magic.

All these different types of people made we wonder if there's any form of racism amongst them. I figured I'd find out for myself eventually.

\- Author's note -

Hey everyone! Glad to see you again!

Only thing I ask is that you guys comment. This story has over 700 views yet only 2 comments. Really? The other 698 of you didn't have anything to say!? Come on people! Tell me what you think!


	6. A Week With The Royals - Day Three (4)

Day Three

I'm looking out into the endless depths of space. I can see stars, planets, and dozens of allied ships. It's calm, quiet, and I'm dressed in fatigues, I recognize them as those of a Marine.

 _I am a Marine_ , I relish the thought. Suddenly, a voice calls my name.

I wake up, looking at the bland white ceiling of my luxurious room. The sole thought of being back where I belong fills me with such elation that I can't help but dream of it. And at this point it's all I can do, hell, being away from all my gear is driving me crazy as is. I'd feel better if Celestia would just let me carry my handgun unloaded.

But I can't expect her to understand. At some point a sigh escaped my mouth, I need to get up and prepare for the day. After a quick piss and face wash I was set on my way. Repeating the past two days.

-[hr]-

"Nice of you to join us Anderson."

Stepping into the royal dining room, I was welcomed to the sight of Celestia and Luna both still in their nightgowns. They were enjoying an early breakfast.

"Good to be here." I reply, sitting in my same seat.

Celestia and Luna both quietly eat their food. With no topic of discussion brought up, my food is quickly laid before me. I'm halfway through my second serving of food when she decides to say something.

"So Feather has passed along her first report." Celestia spoke, motioning to Feather, who stood behind me.

"And?"

"She wrote a lot about the books you read." Celestia quietly chewed her food, "And that you wanted to do something."

"Yes." I nod my head, "I do."

"What did you have in mind?" She asks.

"You train men here correct? I'd like to use your facilities to train."

"So you wanna exercise then." Celestia paused and thought over an answer. "I'll allow it. Have Feather escort you to the training yard."

I smiled, "Thank you ma'am."

Celestia smiled and continued to eat. I downed the rest of my food and left for the door. Feather calmly followed me outside.

"The training yard is in the east wing. If you'd follow me sir." Feather walked ahead.

Following quietly, I thought about the exercises I'd do to ease my body. Frankly, all this waiting around is killing me, I'm a man of action, I'm used to doing dangerous shit and hanging around people who do the same. Suddenly, I remembered an article I read a couple months back, it was an inside view on the life of a man built for delivering death…. An AMAHS agent. It also had an interview with a Rank One agent. It was brief, and many of the questions asked were shot down before the Agent left for some classified place.

If I recall correctly, the research in the article was trying to prove that the UNSA was using brainwashing techniques to turn people into mindless killing machines. Which was proven true after some hackers leaked documents, a rather unfortunate fiasco for the government which stayed true for years after.

People have it out for the government nowadays. Conversely, it seems to be quite the opposite here. Although I haven't set foot outside the castle grounds yet, so while everything may seem nice with the guards here, the citizens of this place might hate Celestia and Luna.

"So what is it that men like you do for exercise?" Feather asks, walking my pace.

I'm confused at first, the way she said that was weird, but I answered regardless, "I like to run."

"That's it?"

"You expected more?" I ask with a smirk.

"I don't know what I expected really." She said with a blank stare, "what do you usually run? Because I'll run with you if it isn't too much."

I wanted to give a high number, but settled with, "I run three miles as a warmup then work my way up to a good ten mile run." It was only a little smaller than what I ran with the other Agents.

"Yeah." Feather chuckled, "I'll run the warm up with you at the very least."

"Fair enough." I replied. "Just don't expect me to slow down."

Feather shook her shoulder, "I'd just like to see you race against our best runner."

Picking up my walking pace, I was eager to get some work done, and my tone of voice made that evident. "Well the sooner we get to wherever we're going is the faster I get to race. How far are we anyway?"

"We're in the east wing now." Said Feather, "the track is in the middle of the wing. So we should see the entrance pretty soon."

And just as she said, the doors to the track were right in front of us. Frankly, I wasn't expecting a whole lot, but was pleasantly surprised when the doors opened and I saw a beautiful black track.

"Was it really necessary to build a track inside the castle?" I ask.

Feather shrugged, "The troops stationed here don't really have a whole lot of places to exercise. So Celestia issued the order and had the track built 17 years ago."

A group of men and women ran past us on the track, I turned to Feather and replied, "Why not run around the city?"

Her brow raised, "Have you seen the city?"

"No."

"Oh. Well it's not exactly the most spacious place." Feather smiled.

"Well that was very nice of her." I smiled back.

As the conversation died down, I took the time to examine my surrounding. Nothing special really, the track was smaller than normal, 200 meters. And hey, it looks like it's recently been done over.. renewed if you will.

The same group from before came around, roughly 9 people all clumped together. Comprised of mostly women, the runners all had such varied hair colors. One could almost compare the passing group to a rainbow. If the rainbow was a bunched up group of sweaty people dressed in shorts and tight shirts.

My thoughts were interrupted by Feather talking, "Are you running in that get-up?"

Looking down at my combat suit, my answer was, "Yes."

"Isn't that a little uncomfortable?"

"The suit was meant to be used in strenuous situations. I can run perfectly fine in it." I defended my armor.

Feather eyed my suit for a moment before shrugging and walking to a row of lockers. She started taking off her armor, starting with her helmet and then moving on to all the straps that held her chest piece on. Feather looked back at me, her chest piece already half-way off.

"Are you seriously going to watch me undress?"

I coughed, "Sorry." Before looking away and watching the same group come around again. This time I waved as they passed, most of them waved back.

"Fuck you too." I mumbled under my breath.

Suddenly, Feather was standing next to me. Her unnaturally colored blue hair was tied into a nice bun. "Do you stretch before you run?" She asked, adding, "Do you even stretch at all?"

I chuckled, "I'm starting to wonder how often I'm going to hear that!" I rubbed my eyes and looked down at her, "Believe it or not, by my standards, I'm more human than most of the people here." I pointed at a winged man practicing his take-offs.

Feather raised her arms, "Says the guy with the metallic thing in his forehead!"

By instinct, I reach up and touched the small metal octagon protruding from the top right part of my forehead. Normally hidden by my hair, my haircut ensured everyone saw it. Not that it really mattered.

"What about it? It's how I access the mainframe to my Personal Operating System."

"Yeah. I don't know what that is."

"And I don't expect you too." I smiled.

"How does it work?" She asked, staring down that particular part of my forehead.

"You open it like this," I demonstrate by pressing down on it and making a circle. The outline of the octagon glowed a bright white and soon a small tray opened revealing a neat line of several small but powerful computer components. I knelt down so she could see them, after a moment I stood back up and pushed the tray in.

"You just walk around with that stuff in your head?" She asked.

"Yeah, it doesn't hurt." I rubbed the octagon.

"So. . Do you just have a hole in your forehead?"

"Yeah."

"I . . uh, sorry if I'm asking too many questions." She gushed out, "It's just. . . Weird."

"It's fine." I reply, looking around, "You wanna get warmed up now?" I smiled, "Or do you not need to?"

Feather laughed, "No I'd like it if we did."

I motioned for her to start moving, "Then show me what you normally do."

[hr]

So it turns out that Feather is less flexible than I thought. She can't even touch her toes while standing or sitting down. The look she gave me while I effortlessly did stretches she would never dream of. Maybe I did a little showing off, but that was just for fun.

And when we finally started running on the track, the two of us focused on maintaining a steady pace we could both handle. Our run was accompanied by partial silence, the lack of conversation was made up by Feathers breathing as we ran more and more.

Sixteen minutes later and Feather's breathing was getting ragged. It was obvious that she was getting tired, can't say I feel the same. Perks of being a super soldier, I guess.

"You wanna stop now?" I asked, slowing my pace to match hers.

"I can keep going for another two miles." She spoke through constant pauses as she took breaths.

"Right."

Feather gave me a evil look that lasted for two seconds, then she was back to her old exhausted looking self. "I can do-" She took a quick breath, "-it!"

"Right." I repeated.

We ran for another four minutes before she had to stop to catch her breath.

[hr]

"And this is the weight room!" Announced Feather.

Her eagerness was appreciated, but the weight room was just a open room full of equipment. Filled mostly with men, there was the occasional women working on her legs or biceps. A couple of the winged people were doing pushups with their wings.

"It looks like it hurts, but it doesn't." Feather explained, looking at the same group I was looking at.

"Yeah. . " I trailed off, following with, "I don't mean to stare."

"It's fine, if anything, you're oddly rather accepting of all this." Feather raised a brow.

"Are you kidding me? I've been all around the Milky Way, I've seen things that would put half these guys in the psychiatric ward!" I exclaimed. "Don't actually answer this. But have you seen the offspring of a Kelgen and a Feltesh? Brings a whole new meaning to the saying, 'a face only a mother could love.' " I joked.

"Okaay." Feather smiled, "So how are we gonna do this?" She looked out at the many empty weight machines.

"You're free to do whatever you want, I'm going to. . go use the bench press." And I walked off.

Two hours later and we're leaving the east wing sweaty yet happy.

"You know a awful lot about body building." Feather smiled, tapping my shoulder.

"Had a lot of people show me ways to stay in shape." I looked down at her, "You don't perform like a super soldier if you sit on your ass all day."

"Fair enough." Feather chuckled. "What is it like being a supersoldier anyway?"

I contemplated an answer, with so many responses, I settled with, "It depends on how you look at it."

"What do you mean?"

"Feather." I paused, "Have you ever killed anyone?"

The smile faded from her face, "No."

"I have." I started, adding, "I've killed a lot of people, humans, aliens, robots. You name it and I've probably killed it, or something like it."

"I don't know what to say."

"Now that's exactly it. What if I told that where I'm from, kids look up to men and women like me?" I glanced at my left arm. "Many people wanna live a life like mine till they realize the responsibilities that come with it."

"I'm sorry." Feather looked at me, obviously uncomfortable with where the conversation went.

"Don't be. I willingly chose to wear this suit." I finished, the conversation already long dead. Feather looked away, then quickly said, "It's about time for lunch, we should go check the dining room to see if the princesses are there."

"Of course."

We walked the rest of the way in silence.

[hr]

The dining room was empty, we arrived a little early. So I sat down and Feather stood behind me.

Looking behind myself, I asked Feather, "Aren't you going to eat?"

"It would be rude to sit without permission from Luna and Celestia." Feather replied, standing ever so firm.

Her stomach rumbled.

A smile found itself upon my face, "And you were sa-"

The doors to the dining room opened rather violently, "Tell him that I refuse to kneel to his demands!" Commanded the ever so recognizable Celestia.

Celestia came stomping in with a well dressed man walking beside her. The middle-aged man beside her responded with, "But ma'am! You know how the king is! Everytime we change his demands he threatens to raise the tax on-"

He stopped, realizing both me and Feather sitting at the dining table.

Celestia smiled, reverting back to her happy self, "Didn't think I'd see you both here so early!"

I coughed.

The defiant princess turned to the man, kneeling down and whispering something to him. He frowned, nodded, and ran off into the castle. Celestia turned back to us while lightly clapping her hands together, "It's good that you're here Anderson, I actually wanted to talk to you!"

I glanced at Feather behind me, "Okay, what is it?"

Celestia sat across from me at the large dining table. "I'd like for you to help me fill out some papers so I can recognize you as an official citizen of Equestria."

"And how long will that take?"

"Roughly a hour, since I'll be waiving a lot of the other stuff."

"And then what happens after that?" I asked.

"I'll let you leave the castle. . Under supervision of course."

I leaned back in the chair, "And how long will you keep eyes on me? What do I need to do to make you trust me?"

"I believe trust is earned through actions." Celestia smiled, "You help my citizens, I trust you, I help you find a way home."

That got my attention. "And how would I help your citizens exactly?"

"After we finish your paperwork, and I give you your personal documents to prove your citizenship." Celestia paused and thought over something, "I'll send you to stay with my student Twilight Sparkle. I'm sure you know her."

I nodded, "We've met, though it was under poor circumstances."

The princess crossed her arms, "I read the reports written on your capture, thank you for not making it difficult on my men."

"Is that a good first step to gaining your trust?" I joked.

"Yes." She smiled, "A very good first step." Celestia then called for a waiter. "Now let's eat and then we'll start on your papers." She looked me in the eyes, "We'll have you back in Ponyville by tomorrow afternoon at best."

"What about my gear?"

"In due time Anderson," Celestia chuckled, "In due time."

 **Authors note -**

Sorry this took so long guys. This particular chapter is roughly 2,600 words. Which is about a thousand more than the last couple chapters. I don't have a whole lot to say at this point, just comment, review, follow, whatever it is you do.

Now to reply to some of your reviews. _You,_ **Me**

Guest asked, " _will it be a harem in the chapter."_

" **There are no planned harems for this story. Anderson will end up with one women and that women varies everyday. AKA I constantly change my mind."**

Ernsop said, " _I'm really liking where this story is going, very solid, and I see the potential in you as a writer, again I love you're work, and I'm sorry for the short comment, It's just 4:19 AM where i am right now, and I'm writing my own story, either way, best of luck, I look forward to more!"_

 **"Thanks man."**

Now for some info on Anderson's gear. Throughout the story, you'll see a whole lot of future tech crap that probably isn't even possible.

Sas-24 - Anderson's legendary handgun, based off the Fn Fnp-45.

Mpa-20 - Anderson's double barrel pump action shotgun, based off the DP-12.

Gs-48 - Anderson's semi-automatic rifle chambered in .308, based off the Mk-14.

There are more guns to come, but for now this is all we've got. Thanks for reading everyone, see you next time.


	7. Change (5)

The Fallen Soldier

Chapter 5

* * *

I've been told countless times that I should embrace change. When I first signed that paper stating my admission into the A.M.A.H.S. program, I was told there would be a lot of change. And that I should readily embrace it. Of course I knew what I was signing up for, the guy dressed in his fancy government suit didn't bother to hide any gruesome details from me.

He told me that if I had any problems with body-enhancing drugs, I shouldn't sign the paper. Then he asked if I was comfortable with being torn apart on a operating table and rebuilt from the ground up. When I told him I didn't care, he said death was a possibility.

"Not everyone makes it off the table." He said.

I shrugged, replying "What else can I lose?" My focus on my non-existent left arm.

"Then sign." He deadpanned, sticking out a small black box. It shimmered before a blue holographic screen emitted from the front.

It was a consent form. Which I didn't bother reading before I wrote my name as neatly as I could. After I finished, he shut the screen off and slipped the box into his coat.

"We'll have you discharged as quickly as possible." He spoke as he removed his dark sunglasses. The leather-like skin around his eyes told many stories, he glanced at my stump of a arm. "Don't worry about the arm, it'll be replaced with a state-of-the-art military model." He slid the glasses back on and turned to leave.

Once he left, I wondered if I'd ever meet him again. Of course I didn't, and I likely never will now. But that's fine, he's just a recruiter, nothing more.

It took two days before I discharged from the hospital. During the interim, I spent my time flirting with the nurse and eating shitty hospital food. I hated every second of it, especially the one time I dropped the tv controller and had to sit watching some stupid auction show. I did a lot of thinking during that.

Nothing special, just your average mid-life crisis stuff. Romance, kids, possible career change, settling down, where'd I'd even live, my current lifestyle. The usual really.

I came to the conclusion that I'd changed. My Mom always told me I would. And my dad always told me to embrace change. And so I did.

Some days I wonder if he's proud of me. Proud of the things I've done. I know my mom isn't, she didn't want me in the military to begin with. Unlike my father, who came from a long line of military service, my mom was a engineer. She fixed a lot of the important stuff in the space station we lived on. Her job was important and paid extremely well.

She wanted me to be a doctor, always said I had the steady hands for it. My dad gave me a rifle instead, said my steady hands made me a good shot. And he was right.

My parents were good people. They made sure I always had food, my father for as tough as he was, always talked to me if I had any problems. My mom told me to 'suck it up' more than my own father did.

Crazy? Not at all. Hell. If anything I'm the crazy one. My dad served active duty for 5 years before he was hurt and given a office job. I've been serving for roughly 13 years now. I survived a galactic-wide war at the cost of my left arm! Yet I'm still fucking going!

The fucking government is going to fucking tear me apart and replace all the shitty parts with metal pieces! I'll barely be human by time this is all fucking done! What the actual fucking fuck am I doing?

Goddammit. If only my dad was here now. He'd probably had some advice for me. He always did. I'd call my mom and ask her, but she'd probably tell me to handle it myself. Not like I can call her where I'm at anyway.

A small part of me regrets signing the form. If I didn't sign maybe I'd be living it large on some remote planet basking in the east life of your everyday citizen. Instead I'm a A.M.A.H.S. agent, stuck on some remote planet with no way of getting back. But I refuse to give in, I still have hope, we'll see when I finally get to examine the ship I crash landed in.

Celestia told me that Twilight and some of her friends dragged me from the ruins. And that my ship is just laying in wait for me. There isn't enough manpower or resources to have it cleaned up. So she said it was fine if I examined the ship, but Twilight would have to take me to it.

But it before all that. I have to fill out some paperwork so I can become a official citizen of Equestria. It's a hassle, but worth it if I'll be able to freely move around.

Author note -

 **Hey there. Things haven't been good lately, but I had this moment of inspiration and decided to translate it into a chapter! I know it's small one! But it delves into Anderson background! This chapter is mainly Anderson thinking back into his own past. It**


	8. An official citizen (6)

The Fallen Soldier

Chapter 6

An official citizen

—

Once I finished my portion of food, it was a matter of waiting for Celestia herself to finish eating.

"So what do you have planned for yourself Anderson?" Celestia asked, slowly chewing on a piece of pancake.

I sat back in my chair, looking up at the ceiling, admiring the giant silver chandelier covered in gems and adorned in countless magical lanterns. "So for the only thing I've got planned is an immediate scouting mission to my crashed ship in the woods." I paused, "the Everfree I believe it's called."

Celestia seemed to think over something, "And what are you hoping to find exactly?" She asked.

"Answers." I stated, "Something to clear up the fog in my head." My focus on her now.

The princess finished her pancakes. "Your predicament is rather unfortunate." She paused and turned to thank the maid taking her plate, "I can't help you recover your lost memories, but I can at least help you find them." She said while standing up.

"If you'd follow me to my office." Celestia motioned, "We'll get these documents of yours sorted out and then you'll be on your way."

I left my chair and followed Celestia with Feather close behind. Considering what the princess said earlier, I asked, "A whole day early?"

"If you'd like." She smiled.

I smiled in return, "I would like that actually."

"Then let's get these papers filled out as quickly as possible." She replied. "My office isn't that far from the dining room."

—

When we came upon her office, I had to admit that I expected just a little more when she opened the doors. Don't get me wrong, it is still very nice and luxurious. The walls painted a plain white with dozen upon dozens of framed photos showing Celestia with many different people and creatures. Where there wasn't a picture, a important looking framed paper - likely a certificate of some kind - took its place. Behind Celestia's giant wooden desk was a large window covered in a silk curtain. She also had two tall filing-cabinets on both side of her window.

Celestia danced around her desk and plopped into her office chair. Pushing aside dozens of letters and stacks of paper aside, "Take a seat while I look for the correct papers." She said.

Feather stood back by the entrance while I dragged a chair out and sat down. I watched Celestia wordlessly go through the drawers in her desk and pull out a small folder.

"Is that it?" I asked, surprised. "I thought there'd be more."

"This is it Anderson." She laid the folder in front of me on her desk.

The folder read, 'Scott Andersen.'

I grabbed the folder and opened it, "Well to start us off Celestia. . You spelled my name wrong. It's A-n-d-e-r-s-o-n, Ander[b]son[/b], not Ander[b]sen.[/b]"

"We'll fix that while we're here. Now to begin I'll need your fingerprint and your magic signature."

"My magic signature?" I asked, laying the opened folder down on her desk.

Celestia raised her hand and used a single finger to draw a magical line in the air. "it's how we trace down people who use magic for illicit reasons. For example, let's say a very talented mage used a spell that could slow or pause time itself. Not only is this spell illegal to know without certain papers and privileges, but if this someone froze time and stole something very important, like money. How would we know who did it?" Celestia asked, sitting back.

Due to my lacking knowledge on magic, I didn't have an answer. "I don't know," I replied, "the thought alone of someone freezing time is unreal. But if it really happened, you couldn't. . . They froze time for fucks sake. You don't freeze time."

"Believe it or not, it's possible. And we find the culprits through their magic signature, everyone has one, mage or not. Magic flows through us all, so consider it your magical fingerprint."

"Oh. Well I don't think I'll have one." I shrugged.

"Nonsense Anderson." Celestia smiled, raising her hand, which glowed briefly. The smile on her face left and she lowered her hand, "Now that is peculiar!"

I tried to reason, "I'm not from this world, so I wasn't born with this whole 'magic' thing in my body. I'm normal compared to my own standards."

"Well this certainly brings up a number of problems, but we'll deal with those later. For now let's get your finger print and we'll go on to figuring out your previous history."

"You mean as in my education and family?"

"Nothing serious." Celestia looked at me, "I won't be gifting you any certificates from the top-ranked school in Equestria, and you certainly aren't going to find yourself a sudden member of any wealthy families."

I frowned, "Wasn't expecting a hand-out your majesty. Just enough so that I may find work should I ever have too."

"Fret not Anderson, you'll be given the basics of any average man in my country." She snapped her fingers and a wooden box appeared. "Now if you'd remove yours gloves and ink your fingers so we can get on with this show."

"Most of my armor is one piece, the only thing I can simply remove is the helmet."

"Then undress."

"Oh. I'm not well dressed under this armor."

"Then don't take it all off."

"It's your show Celestia, just give me a second to get this off." I proceeded to activate the removal process.

And since I wear the latest stealth model, it's the easiest to remove out of all three models of the Amahs suit. Mainly due to the fact that my version possess's very little actual armor, it's comprised of a complicated bodysuit that mimics a persons muscular system, but with enhanced results. It also has a lightweight, but very expensive exoskeleton built into the bodysuit. With these things combined, plus all my implants and personal training, you get a super-soldier capable of superhuman feats. Certain parts of the suit is covered by a lightweight but durable armor plating. Meant to maximize mobility at the cost of little armor, but that's why it's equipped with the latest Personal Shielding technology. Which . . .

"Anderson, your fingerprint please." Celestia stared into my eyes, her own eyes reading signs of impatience.

"Right, sorry." I removed the last bit of armor and slid my torso free from the body suit. I went through the process of inking my fingers and thumb one by one until I had filled out the little sheet Celestia pointed.

"Now your left please."

I shook my head in response, "No-can-do your majesty. My left arm is all metal and doesn't leave any prints."

Her gaze switched to my left arm, "It looks very life-like to me. . . Oh I see, very clever."

She was talking about the fake skin I had sprayed on my synthetic arm, it matched the rest of my skin color. Celestia didn't ask questions and moved on to the next portion. She pulled a piece of paper from the back of the folder and handed it to me.

"Now I've already thought about it, and I had planned to give you a well thought out fake life. But then at the last moment I decided to simplify it all. So for as long as you remain in Equestria, you will now be the single child of a family from Manehatten. You were raised there and went to the local education center, where you received free education and passed all your classes with average marks. You do not have a college education, and currently have no work history. Your record is clean and you posses no property. While both your parents are deceased and left you nothing."

"Holy crap Celestia, are these people real?" I asked, looking at the photos of my 'parents.'

"They are, but they are also dead. If for whatever reason you went looking for them, you'd only find graves. You are forbidden from seeking any family members from either gender, such as brothers, sisters, cousins, etc."

I nodded.

"Now I'll need your signature on a couple more things and we'll have a financial record set up for you. Then we'll discuss yours rights as a citizen, and we'll finish with setting up your Personal Identification Number, or your PIN for short."

"Okay, where do I sign?"

Celestia slid another paper in front of me, then a vial of ink and a quill. Fortunately, I watched an old movie once so I knew how to use the quill for the most part. I dipped the tip in the ink and pulled it out ready to write, small drops of ink fell from the tip and onto the paper, ruining parts of it. I looked up at Celestia and sheepishly smiled.

"Now sign here and here."

I wrote on the lines as neatly as I could, which wasn't good at all. Celestia didn't say anything but I knew she was thinking about it.

"Okay, you'll get copies of all this once you've settled in at Ponyville. But this paper signifies your official registry with the Bank of Equestria, a bank sanctioned by the Equestrian government. It's used by 87% of Equestrians citizens last I checked."

I scratched my head,"Okay. Did I need this account?"

"By law, yes."

"That's a law? Why?"

"The cabinet likes organization." She replied. "It also made tax money significantly easier to receive."

"Nice."

"Don't worry Anderson. I'll deposit 150 bits into your account, which you'll be able to get from the local bank in Equestria after a couple days. Once these papers go through the works that is."

"Is that a lot?" I asked.

Celestia smiled and chuckled, "it depends on what you spend it on. Now as a citizen of Equestria, you should know these few things, stealing is wrong, murder is heavily frowned upon, and illicit use of magic spells is punishable by several factors based on the circumstances of use. There is more of course, but I'll have Twilight teach you those. I don't have enough time to do it myself."

Celestia pulled the final piece of paper out, it was small and had a dozen small lines spaced out on it. She handed me the paper, "write down 12 numbers, one number on each line."

I thought for a moment, then wrote, 1-0-0-9-2-4-5-0-0-4-0-2. The numbers were my birthday and the months both my actual parents were born in. I handed the paper back to Celestia, who laid it in the folder and closed it.

"Your part is done, now I'll finish the rest." Celestia opened a drawer and pulled a small bag out. She laid it before me, "Inside the bag is 30 bits, a document allowing your release from castle grounds and two maps. One of Equestria, and one of Ponyville."

Grabbing the bag, "I, uh, thank you Celestia. You're really helping a guy out here." I said.

"You can pay me back later. Now I believe you have a train to catch, the bits should cover the ticket, and you can probably order something to eat once on the train." Celestia smiled again, "show the document to any guards who give you trouble, and Feather can escort you to the train station if you'd like her too."

I looked back at Feather, who nodded. My focus returned to Celestia, "I'm very thankful for everything you've done for me Celestia. I won't forget this, so if you ever need someone of my talents, I'd be more than happy to help."

Her brow twitched, and an uneasy look fell upon her eyes, but then it was gone. "I'll keep that in mind Anderson. Now be on your way, fetch whatever belongings you've accumulated in your stay and head for the station. I'll send Twilight word of your forthcoming. Be safe Anderson, and don't do anything foolish."

"Thank you again Celestia. Stay golden." I rose from my chair and pushed it in, turning around to leave. Feather watched me as I passed and opened the door, then she followed behind.

[hr]

On our return trip to my room in the castle, Feather walked beside me, "Congrats on your citizenship Anderson." She said, emitting a positive vibe.

"Thank you Feather." I sincerely replied.

"How's it feel to finally be allowed to leave the castle?" Spoke Feather, continuing the conversation.

I looked at the document granting my freedom from castle grounds, it was stamped with a important looking seal, a sun rising over a hill. "Good." I said, "It feels good."

"You want me to show you the way to the station?" She asked.

"I, uh, I'll be fine. Thank you though Feather."

Feather looked unsure, "You sure Anderson?"

I smiled, "Yeah, I need the walk to think about some things anyway."

When we arrived at my room, Feather stopped outside while I walked in and grabbed the few belongings I had. On my way back out, Feather stopped me one last time to say goodbye.

"Anderson. " She began, "Take it easy man. I'll see you some other time maybe."

"You could walk with me to the castle gates y'know."

"I need to return to my post, it's been long enough now. So you'll have to see yourself out."

"Hey, no problem. Bye Feather, I'll see you later." I shook her hand and turned to leave.

Ponyville was only a couple hours away on the train, two hours and I'd be there. Now to make my way to the station, buy a ticket, and order some coffee if they've got it.

It's too cold for this shit.

-End-

Authors note- Hey everyone! I'm back! Sorry I was gone so long, I kinda got lazy and didn't have a whole lot of interest in writing. But I had a moment of inspiration today and some free time since my job site got rained out.

Feel free to comment, review, and all that stuff. Comments actually inspire me a little more to write since I know at least SOMEBODY is reading this thing I spent 2 hours of my life on.

Anyway, have a good one and stay golden.

Ps- if you have any interest in the lore of the story, feel free to ask.


	9. A Warm Welcome (7)

**Authors note _-_**

 ** _Hey. It's me. The_** ** _author._**

Decided to burn some time writing, I'm happy with most of the chapter. But towards the end I got a little less happy. Anyway, comment, review, like, favorite, follow.

Seriously, I say it every chapter. We have damn near 3k reads and only 9 reviews. The last chapter had over 100 reads. But one review. Come on guys. Show a man a little love.

 **The Fallen Soldier**

 **Chapter 7 - A Warm Welcome**

Cold. The only thing running through my mind right now, was the word

'cold'.

I had left the castle grounds after showing my passing through several guard checkpoints. My stroll through the city itself was uneventful, due to the poor weather conditions keeping practically all the civies inside. The only life I encountered outside the castle was the occasional wagon hauling something, and some guard patrols. Most of the guards I saw were walking, wearing a warm looking outfit, the rest were on horseback. Likely a higher ranked guard, though I could be wrong.

After finding myself lost for a brief moment, I asked a winged women sitting outside a building. Which seemed to be a cafe, a quick glance through the windows showed patrons sitting at booths sipping on mugs. The name of the establishment was written in a language I and my suit did not recognize.

Approaching the middle-aged woman, I aimed for her attention. "Excuse me ma'am."

She looked at my face, then my suit, her look said it all. "Yes? What do you need . . Sir?" She added after a quick pause.

Forgive me for looking past her expensive looking coat and the giant ring on her finger. I was just trying to have a conversation. Still, I smiled and politely asked, "Can you give me some directions to the train station?"

She was quick to inform me, then send me on my way without so much as a 'goodbye' in return. To my unfortunate surprise, the station was only a couple streets away.

I cut through an alleyway and shortened the walk by a couple minutes. No more than 6 minutes later, did I find myself standing outside a large building. The train station.

The large analog clock above the front door had several strange factors and symbols that made it unreadable, I made an educated guess and figured it was around 8 or 9 in the morning. Time is different here, and I don't exactly know how to read the clocks.

My train of thought was destroyed the second someone walked out from inside the station. I looked like a retard, standing out in the cold, staring at a clock I couldn't even read. Ignoring the mans look as he walked past, I entered the station and welcomed the shelter from the cold.

It was moderately busy, lines were over 13-17 people long. And most of the seats lined along the wall were occupied with waiting train goers. Two tracks ran inside the building and then out, both were parallel to one another. It was a wonder as to how the 4 giant holes didn't affect the temperature of the room.

I assumed some kind of 'magic' barrier was covering the two entrances and the two exits. Allowing the trains and it's passengers to go and come as they please, while keeping the cold and heat out. A terrific idea, if you asked me.

Separate signs swayed gently above their designated tracks. One read 'Philadelphia', the other 'Ponyville'. Each had a designated arrival and departure time written beneath them. I had plenty of time to catch the train.

Several booths on one side of building had different names fixated above them. I ignored all expect the one selling tickets to Ponyville. Quickly jumping in line, I had to wait for 6 different people to buy their tickets. And expecting the purchase of tickets to be strange, I paid attention to the man in front of me as he bought his ticket.

It was simple. They ask for a name, what accommodations you want, and if you has some kind of membership within the train services. I would have to look into it later, it seemed okay enough.

Now it was my turn.

Stepping forward as the man in front stepped aside, I was greeted with a bright smile and a happy, "How may I help you today?"

I replied, "What's the difference between the first class and second class tickets?"

"First class tickets allow you access to the dining cart and several other benefits such as a toilet, reclining chairs, seat warmers, and complimentary crackers."

"And second class?"

The station clerk smiled, "it has seats!"

I tilted my head and looked at her, then looked up at the board above the booth. The price for a 1st class ticket was 16 bits. 2nd class was 11 bits.

I reached in my pouch and pulled out two of the 10 bit coins I had. I slid them through the little hole in the bars separating us, saying, "I'll take a ticket for first class."

The Clerk nodded and grabbed the coins, he opened the register and dropped them inside. Fishing out four little coins the size of a American quarter. He laid them before me and then slid over a small things of papers.

At the top of each little paper, FIRST-CLASS was written.

"May I have your name sir?"

"Scott."

He looked at me funny, like he could talk though. His name was probably Butterscotch or something.

"Do you have a Year-Pass with us . . Scott?"

"No."

"Would you li-"

"No." I cut him off.

He frowned and filled the rest of the card out. "Your train will arrive in a hour. Please enjoy your ride and do come again."

I took the card and thanked him before leaving to find a seat near where my train would arrive. I had an hour to burn so I decided to do some thinking.

 _What if I'm stuck here forever? This place obviously hasn't traveled beyond its own planet. So what if I recover what I can from my crashed ship and that's it? No way off this god forsaken hellhole. And why did I have to arrive during the winter?_

 _Speaking of winter, I noticed some civilians holding wrapped presents. Does this place have its own version of Christmas? Is it close to this Christmas? How fucking long is the winter here anyway? Why is it so goddamn cold? My suit says it's 38 degrees Fahrenheit outside for fucks sake. (Little over 3 degrees Celsius)_

I was startled by a rather loud argument between a well-dressed man and his wife. I listened for a brief moment, they were arguing over something their daughter did. Not my business.

The hour passed slowly, I spent most of it staring at the giant 4-way clock hovering in the middle of the room. I tried to figure what from what and taught myself how to tell if a hour passed. Then the train arrived.

I boarded after filtering through a large crowd of people. I discovered that most of these folks weren't even going to Ponyville, but the stops after. Finding my way to the 1st-class wagon, I was seated in a comfortable chair next to a attractive women and her kid.

We didn't talk, and she didn't so much as acknowledge me.

After about 10 or so minutes, the train departed and we were on our way.

\- [hr]

The kid was annoying, the second he realized I was sitting near him. He started asking questions about my armor. His mom apologized and told him to stop, but he'd only do so momentarily. I even gave him my crackers as a peace-treaty.

Once 45 minutes passed, I got tired of the kid and left to find the dining wagon. Turns out it was this kickass open-air cart with tables and more comfortable chairs. It had the same magic barriers from the station keeping the cold air from freezing everyone to death.

I found an empty table and sat down, basking in the wonderful view of snow and more snow as we sped through the meadows. A waitress found herself at my table, asking, "Would you like a menu?"

My mouth opened to ask for coffee, but instead said, "Do you have hot chocolate?"

She smiled and nodded, "Would you like some? A 10oz mug is 3 bits."

Handing her the money, she said she'd return in a moment. And so I waited, enjoying the calming sound of the train speeding down the tracks. My time of peace was interrupted by the same couple from before. Though the argument was different, and over a much worse topic.

"You what!?" The man cried out, standing up fast enough to send his chair falling back.

"I'm sorry!" The women replied, cupping her face in her hands.

"You're Sorry!?" He scoffed, "sorry doesn't fix what you did!" He was now towering over the still seated woman, he was pointing at her face and nearly jabbing her with his finger.

I was tempted to butt-in.

"Do you even realize how that makes me feel?" He spat in her face, stuttering on his next word. "Y-Y-you fucking WHORE!"

His hand began to glow a faint blue. I felt it necessary to interfere now.

"Hey! How about we all calm down now eh?" I announced my presence, standing from my chair, and approaching the couple.

The man stepped back from the woman, he took a look at me and then returned focus to his girl. He pointed an arm at me and shouted, "I bet you'd fuck him too huh!? He looks a lot like my brother!"

By now, most of the others folks that were out here had left already. I hoped this train had some kind of security system in place for Mages who go crazy. Otherwise I couldn't really do anything about the situation. Especially since I still don't fully understand the laws here. Me interfering could be considered escalating the situation!

I decided to take a gamble, by moving around a table between me and the mage. He immediately noticed this and raised a glowing hand at me. I never liked having a gun pointed at me, and I sure as hell didn't like some magical freak threatening to kill me with his mind of all things.

But I didn't do anything, a gut feeling told me his 'magic' would win.

My arms found themselves in the air, faking a surrender. The man bought it and turned to his girl. In the heat of the moment, I grabbed a nearby mug and rushed to hit the man with it.

I wasn't quick enough.

A powerful force hit me square in the chest. . . And sent me flying off the wagon.

Why? Why is it always me?

I couldn't help but ask myself as I was barreling through the air. There was nothing I could do to stop this turn of events. And that angered me beyond belief, instead I found myself with a natural hate for mages that day.

Before my body hit the ground, I managed to raise my helmet. It helped protect my head, but didn't do much once I started rolling fast enough to almost lose my breakfast. Being ejected from a train going at least 60mph does that to a man.

Everything was sore once the rolling stopped. Moving in general hurt. Why me? Why did I have to be laun- The train!

I sat up with a burst of adrenaline and watched the faint shape of my ride speeding away down the tracks. I wasn't even on that train for an hour! God-fucking-dammit. My luck always finds a way of resetting itself. Perhaps this is how it balances the good luck I tend to have so much of.

Regardless of this, walking was necessary at the moment. The sooner I started, the sooner I can get out of this godforsaken cold. Thankfully, I could rely on my suit to keep me warm. But it wasn't built for this, so it won't last long and I'm already burning enough energy healing from the forced ejection. Maintaining my body heat and fending off this cold isn't gonna be good for me or my suit in the long run.

Forcing myself onto my feet, a sharp pain shot through my hip. The suit beeped and a screen appeared on my HUD. Accompanied by a stoic female voice.

—

Scanning User. . . . Scanning done.

Detected several problems. Displaying results.

Muscle Damage causing a slight delay in Left Mechanical Arm by 19 milliseconds.

Sudden impact has caused a Hairline Fracture in the hip.

Malfunctioning rotor in Finger 3 on left arm mechanical hand.

In the time since the results displayed, over 24 different problems were solved.

Results end.

—

A fracture? Damn. On the bright side, at least the tracks are enchanted to stay warm enough to melt snow off it. It essentially gave me a never ending sidewalk. And so I walked. And walked. And walked. And walked. Walk. Walking. Wanking. Walking? Walking! I'm just hiking at this point.

I hiked for what seemed like 40 or so miles before something came barreling down from the skies. As it got closer, it revealed itself to be a woman with wings. And odd rainbow colored hair.

Her wings stretched from her back, slowing her descent and making her look like some angelic creature sent from the heavens to relieve me of my suffering. The crazy haired woman landed before me on the tracks, she was wearing a light jacket and yoga pants. How she wasn't freezing was beyond me.

"Are you… Scott?" She hesitantly asked.

My helmet lowered and I replied, "Yes."

She examined my face and stuck a hand out, "I'm Rainbow Dash." She said.

I shook it and replied, "Pleasure is all mine. You my rescue party?"

She nodded.

Her lack of extra hands had me confused, I asked, "So are you gonna... carry me or something?"


	10. Short story - 1

The Fallen Soldier

Random Short Stories 1/Infinite?

Authors note - So this was originally supposed to be a small three-part chapter. But I ended up liking the first part enough to write a whole chapter on it. You'll see me do this whenever I end a creative roadblock, so when the main story is metaphorically killing me. I'll write a little side story to rejuvenate myself creatively. Practice dialogue, do some stupid chapters, and hone my action scene writing. It's this, or I go quiet for a long time to mentally rest. This way you guys still get something from me. **_I'm teaching myself to use a new button on my keyboard! Can you guess what it is?_**

 **And also, to encourage a little reader feedback. I'd like to offer a couple of you readers a chance to tell me ideas for side stories like this. I'll include them in the main story every now and then, and maybe start a separate series if they grow too bothersome to the main plot. They can include canon characters, Anderson doesn't even have to be in it, or it could be moments from Anderson's past should you care enough about his character. If I take interest in your idea, I'll ask you a couple (dozen) or so questions, and then I'll set about writing it. You'll get your username in the chapter, and I'll credit you with the idea!**

 **Feel free to comment, favorite, review, and etc. I care about what you guys think, so tell me.**

—

Short story 1 -'The Experiment' -

—

It was another nice day in Equestria. The sun was shining bright, and the air tasted as sweet as ever. Winter had ended a couple weeks ago, leading to a massive community clean-up to rid the world of the excess snow. Ponyville had its local cleanup crew organized by none other than Twilight Sparkle. Who is my landlord, the librarian of the only library in town, and the second most person I talk to in this strange world. But that's only because I live with her, otherwise I likely wouldn't.

I've been here for a little over a month now; and it's been a real experience, not only do these 6 ladies go on. . . adventures at least once a week. But this 'magic' bullshit thing they've got going has found its way onto my shit-list. Twilight has tried to explain to me the perks of being born with the ability to harness and use the 'magic' in the air. And I acknowledge it's benefits and capabilities.

But it's bullshit. And I normally find another reason to keep thinking that everyday.

Today? I don't know yet. Yesterday? Some guy was levitating a piano and almost dropped it on me! After I punched him - and suffered a brief scolding session from Twilight - we were back to the Library with groceries.

Suddenly a cry of shock came from the lower floor, I jumped from my tiny bed and ran downstairs. I came upon the image of Spike chasing a carrot around the Library, and a disheveled looking Twilight grinning like a madman.

Loudly, I groaned and rubbed my hands over my eyes, "Goddammit Twilight. Now what did you do?!" Spike glanced over at me, giving the carrot enough time to throw a book in his path; Spike tripped over the book, and hit the ground pretty hard.

Twilight turned to face me, her eyes had this distant look as she said, "it worked Anderson! I finally got the spell right and it worked without a hitch!"

Oh, right. She's been working on this major project for one of the top colleges in Equestria. Her goal was to bring life-like actions to inanimate objects. Seems like it worked.

I watched the carrot try and climb a bookshelf. It's little arm snapped off about half-way up, causing it to fall and hit the ground, where it didn't get back up. Spike kneeled over its corpse and caught his breath.

For her own sake, I complimented her, "Fantastic Twilight." And because I've been living with her long enough now, I asked, "How did you do it?" Either I ask her myself, or she just tells me anyway. Maybe I can talk myself out of another lesson on magic?

Her eyes lit up, and her hair magically fixed itself. She raised an arm and some notes floated over from her work station, they stopped in front of me, where I grabbed them from the open air. One quick glance told me all I needed. And that is the fact that Twilight can't write worth shit when she gets in these moods. Besides the poorly drawn pictures, I can barely make out the words she scribbled on the paper. Something about magic frequencies and the difference between 'life' in a carrot compared to a hunk of metal.

Twilight walked to my side and pointed at a series of strange symbols written in a corner on the paper. "After testing on dozens of different things and changing the spells formula over a hundred times; I finally found the right one!" She started babbling about the trouble in syncing the harmonic flow halfway through the spell, and then the difficulties of putting too much Mana into a certain part of the spell.

Creating a new spell is a complicated matter, one doesn't simply chant 'fire' and shoot flames from their hands. There is the problem of how much Mana to use in certain parts of the spell, too much mana at one point and you're sending flames far away, but they don't burn as bright. Use too much altogether, and your hand explodes in a fury of seething flames. Creating a spell that brings life-like tendencies to something isn't a joking matter. Living with a talented mage has led me to learn this.

Twilight probably made history this day.

I interrupted her speech on Mana Disintegration and said, "Congrats Twilight. If anybody could give life to a carrot, it'd be you." Followed with a (hopefully) genuine looking smile.

She stopped talking for once and smiled back, "I'm not giving 'life' to the carrot, but thanks anyway Anderson." Her eyes looked at the mess her workstation was. "I. . . Couldn't have done this without you and Spike helping me out."

"You're welcome!" Spike shouted from the background, making Twilight turn her head and smile at him.

My response was a quick, "I didn't do much Twilight." I really didn't.

She huffed at that, "You were there for me the last couple nights when I needed someone to discuss my problems with." Her tired face bore a natural smile, "For someone who claims to be more muscle than brains; You sure caught onto the concepts of magic fast."

I wasn't used to this kind of attention. My arm snaked around my head and scratched my neck, "You're very thorough in your explanations Twilight." I wasn't lying, the last few nights where Twilight was holding me hostage taught me many things about magic.

So much that I even corrected something she said at some point.

She giggled and walked back to her workstation talking aloud, she said, "Either way, the two of you have been extremely helpful." Twilight sat in her chair and levitated the once alive carrot over. "After I perform a couple more tests, and finalize the spell, I'd like for the three of us to go out and eat. If you wouldn't mind Anderson?" She looked at me through the corner of her eyes.

I had learned the hard way that I can't simply ignore Twilight and her friends. My first week a free man was spent outside and usually in the woods, only late at night would I return to the Library for sleep. They all insist that I try and settle in, especially since. . . I'm stuck here for good. Its not entirely bad, I'd rather be stranded here then anywhere else. But this place fucking sucks at the same time.

"Sure Twilight, I wouldn't mind at all."

She smiled, "Fantastic! You should hang around while I try the spell on a potato."

"Amaze me." I sat on the ground and leaned against the wall.

Twilight placed a single potato on the floor in the middle of the room, took several steps back, and waited for Spike to ready a glass container. Probably so Twilight can examine it behavior.

Part of me wondered if I was safe where I sat, but I couldn't move before Twilight chanted a few dozen words while hovering her hands at the potato. A blinding light filled the room, causing my eyes to automatically activate and dim the light as much as they could. As the light faded, a single potato was left lying on the floor.

A minute passed before I asked, "Did you say something wrong?"

Twilight, utterly flabbergasted, said, "No! I said it exactly the same as whe-"

The potato sprouted a pair of tiny legs and somehow jumped onto its feet. I yawned at the sight, already have I seen too much shit to even care anymore. Twilight motioned for Spike to capture it, the potato however, seemed to sense the danger and took off like a bat out of hell.

The problem was that it bee-lined straight for me. Now as I feel justified to defend myself, me, a grown ass man who has faced down far worse things, was slightly caught off-guard when the potato ran towards me.

"Oh shit!" I cried out, scrambling to stand up, only to fumble and fall on my face. Moments later, I felt the tiny feet of the potato run across my shirt to the other side of my stomach, where it dropped down and hid. "Is it trying to hide?" I asked aloud, hoping to sound serious.

Spike was struggling to hide his laughter, and Twilight was too focused writing down notes to really care. Carefully, I used my left arm to snatch the potato from my side. I held it up and told Spike to come get it. He ran over with the glass bowl, in which I dropped it inside.

The potato immediately started panicking and tried to escape. It jumped onto the curving side of the bowl, which caused its little potato leg to snap, making it tumble back down to the center. It weakly moved around before it stopped.

"Fascinating. It seemed almost attracted to your inner void." Twilight referred to my incapability to host magic of any-kind. It makes me appear as a 'void' to those who control magic and see it as a mage does. "You should participate in some more of my experiments Anderson, I'd love to see how more of these items act around you." Twilight looked up at me with a hopeful expression.

"Christ Twilight, first you ask me to get naked, now you wanna spend some alone time with me?" I joked, referring back to some of our first days together, and experiments. "If you want me alone that bad, I could talk Rarity into watching Spike while you and me go get brunch." I smiled and winked at her.

Twilight cheeks lit up a faint red, she fumbled over a good comeback and settled with, "no."

A fit of laughter overcame me, when it left I said, "I'll help Twilight. But can we all get breakfast somewhere first? I'm really hungry."

She sighed, "I suppose." Placing her note taking materials down, "I need more produce for these experiments anyway. Hope you boys don't mind a detour after breakfast."

Spike shook his head, "Can we go to that Café near Lilly's? They make really good sandwiches there."

"Yeah, I've been there a few times myself." I added.

"Then we'll go there. And we'll be walking Anderson!" She glared at me, electing a mock surrender from me.

"We can all fit in the car Twilight."

"You almost ran someone over!"

"Not my fault."

"You were driving!"

"And if you were driving, we would've hit that kid."

She grumbled and waved me off, "Let me change and we'll leave, I'm hungry myself. And coffee doesn't sound bad right now anyway." Twilight went upstairs to change into a better outfit, leaving me and Spike alone.

The little dragon said, "I swear the two of you acted like complete strangers a week and a half ago! Now you argue like an old married couple half the time. What happened in the Everfree?"

I hesitated, "Maybe Twilight will tell you someday. Or I will if she says it's okay."

He crossed his arms, and out blew a tiny flame from his nostrils.


	11. Making My Way Home (8)

The Fallen Soldier

Chapter —

—

Making My Way Home

Down from the heavens came a winged woman with hair so standoutish it was one of the first things I noticed about her. The second was her lack of winter appropriate clothes: sweats and a thin hoodie is all she wore. Third was her small stature, she looked only to be five feet and 3-4 inches; she was short, and if it wasn't for her mature looking face and body I'd have mistaken her for a child.

The rainbow haired woman looked me up and down, her oddly colored eyes pierced mine before long. She spoke, "Are you... Scott Anderson?"

I gave her a blank stare and looked around, it had begun to gently snow and no source of life was around, just snow and more snow. The aching cold had gotten to me, my life support systems were beginning to fail, and I was thrown out of a moving train not long ago.

A little sass found itself in my tone, "People often go for walks in the middle of nowhere in weather like this?"

Her face scrunched in turn.

"Yes I'm Anderson." I quickly added, "Sorry. I'm cold."

Rainbow-Hair softened her glare, "I'm surprised I even found you!" She exclaimed in sudden excitement, "Once the news got around Twilight rounded up some Valkyries and started a search for you!"

To be polite, I lowered my helmet so we could properly talk, the cold made me wanna forget my manners. A mental note was also created, it was a reminder for me to thank Twilight later.

She continued, "People started giving up after an hour and a half into the search and the incoming blizzard wasn't helping!"

"A blizzard is coming?!" I exclaimed, "how long?"

"At least another two hours." She answered.

The thought of freezing to death occurred to me, it would've been a terribly sad end to my career. Now I was just happy my luck paid off again. I thanked whatever mystical force that led this woman to me.

"Hold on a sec while I do something." The woman said while turning away.

I watched her fumble with her hoodie pocket, then, as she pulled out a purple crystal I asked her what it was for.

"It's enchanted with some kinda spell Twi cooked up." She replied, fumbling with the rock a bit before holding it up to the sky.

A few seconds passed as I considered asking her what it was supposed to do. My mouth closed as the rock began to glow a bright pink before suddenly shooting off into the sky. The rainbow haired woman took a few steps back in surprise.

"Now what?" I asked, eyeing the pink glow as it climbed higher into the sky until it stopped about 20 stories above us.

"It's supposed to tell Twi where we are." She spoke, "But I'm not se-"

She was interrupted by a loud clap as the ever so familiar Twilight Sparkle appeared from nowhere.

Twilight turned towards us, "You found him?!... " she looked at the other woman, "Rainbow!?"

The woman appropriately dubbed 'Rainbow' puffed her chest out, "Of course I did! When you've got the fastest flier in Equestria looking for someone you can expect that person FOUND in ten. Seconds. Flat." She finished her monologue.

Twilight gave Rainbow a quick small smile before focusing on me. "By Celestia you must be cold! We should get you to Ponyville as quickly as possible!"

I shook my head in agreement.

"Then lets not waste anytime!" She exclaimed.

Twilight raised her hand, which started glowing a dark purple, something I had seen before. Her face had this intense look of focus on it as she closed her eyes. I glanced at Rainbow, she had a look of uncertainty, she knew what was gonna happen. As soon as I opened my mouth..

*CLAP*

I was standing alone in the snow again.

"Well... " I mumbled, "..shit."

—

Shock was a good place to start. I was shocked by their sudden absence. Mere moments ago I had two people next to me, now they were gone. Dozens of questions came to mind, but I had to focus. A blizzard is coming and I only have two hours to find shelter.

I can wait here and see if they come back, or I can start looking for shelter. For the sake of praying on my luck, I decided to wait 10 minutes to see if they come back.

A minute passed, nothing. 3 minutes passed, nothing. 8 minutes pass, nothing. By this point I had tired of the cold and decided to try my luck at finding shelter. The snowfall had turned from a meager drizzle to a growing beast in the interim of my waiting. Said blizzard was very real and very close, perhaps closer than Rainbow let on.

Visibility was getting poor - I could thank the snow for that - and Mother Nature herself seemed to curse me with this landscape. There was nothing! The only thing here that suggests civilization are the train tracks! No trees! No random farms! Just snow for what seems like hundreds of miles!

(Equestria is big)

I didn't want to leave the tracks, reason be they would _eventually_ lead to something. But I couldn't stay lest I risk freezing to death. I gave it some thought and started walking again since walking by the tracks is all I can manage to do for myself. Maybe Rainbow will find me again? Maybe another train will come this way?! It's been well over an hour since the last! My money wasn't on Twilight, her 'magic' may help _her_ but I don't think it'll help me!

Then, as if a great stroke of luck was cast upon me, I heard a train horn. My heart started beating faster, my dry mouth no longer felt numb, everything felt 'fresh' as my senses came back to life. I recognized it as a second wind, the natural urge to live. Stepping off the tracks and into the snow, I looked back and watched a distant train speeding towards me.

As it got closer I could tell it wasn't a passenger train. The locomotive was hauling several large crates on flatbeds, and the lack of passenger carts made it obvious as well. My only question, however, is how the hell am I supposed to get on it? I've never train-hopped before!

The train was a good time away, at least from what I could tell from the distance of the trains lights. I had a little time to figure something out. Maybe I could jump on it? No. I'd fall off probably. Or worse.

Grab a bar as it speeds by? No. My arm would get dislocated.

Unfortunately, that was all I had. I couldn't see many ways of getting a train going full speed. Actually, the ideas I had now weren't that smart. But what else could I do? The train was almost here and I could freeze to death if I don't do anything.

Got me a one-time choice here. Maybe if jump at the right time I can land on... no wait. What if I stand on the track where the conductor can see me, get him to slow down enough where grabbing or jumping on won't hurt as much. It'd be worth a shot, if I could see more than 100Ft in front of me. Unless the train has some magical lights that light the way, they aren't gonna see me jumping around on the tracks.

 _Okay. Okay. I'm gonna do this, it is now time for action, not thinking. God I hate my life sometimes_.

The train was here.

I took a few steps back and started running, and with a grunt, I jumped as high as my augmented body would allow. The train was moving fast, I knew this, jumping on the train was stupid, I knew this. When I landed, it was on one of the wooden crates being hauled. Because of physics, the second my feet hit the crate I was thrown back. I started rolling before falling off the crate and in between the one I landed on and the one next to it.

I don't know why there wasn't a plastic wrap covering the crates. But I was thankful there wasn't anything blocking the spaces between the crates. Now I'm stuck on a train.

Wonder where it's heading.

-—

So I'm back. Sorry the chapter is so short, I know what I said about making it 5k words but I couldn't force myself to do it. I had a cold from the weather and thought I'd do some writing.

I realize the inconsistency with the snow in this chapter, but It reaches its worst towards the end. It's starts as a small snowfall, as the train comes into sight the snow has picked up but isn't a full blizzard. And at the end the snow has gotten pretty bad, but not blizzard bad. Anyway have a good one guys. Review, follow, and favorite. We've got 4K reads but only 13 comments.

Next chapter - "Wrong Town, Wrong Person, Right Hero."


	12. Wrong Town, Right Hero (9)

Authors Note - The story starts off in the first season after episode 20, "Green Isn't Your Color." To make it known now, I will be taking liberties with the canon plot of the cartoon. By this point in the actual cartoon, Appleoosa's problem with the Buffalos have not been solved. Anderson will solve it. Tensions are high, but no war has been declared. Also notice how I have the story taking place in winter, compared to the usual sunny atmosphere of Ponyville. **Comments are answered at the very bottom.**

The Fallen Soldier

Chapter 9

Wrong Town, Right Hero

* * *

I found myself in a place I haven't seen in almost 14 years. The metal corridors, the same stale recycled air, and the presence of artificial gravity brought memories of a better time.

I was home, and without much time to enjoy the moment.

"You see that Andy?" Spoke a gentle female voice, breaking me from my daze.

I turned towards the voice, recognizing the source as my mom. Much younger, and full of life, her face twisted into a sweet smile, baring clean, white teeth. Her gaze wasn't on me, but rather forward. I followed her eyes, and the outstretched arm she had pointing towards a window that offered a view into the world outside our small space station.

With little to no control, I heard myself respond. "What is that mom?" At the sight of a pack of rocks barreling past the space station.

"Those are meteors. A shower of them to be specific."

"Are they dangerous?"

She chuckled, "No mi pequeña flor. The shield will take care of them."

As she said that, I watched as dozens of little rocks hit an invisible wall covering the space station. Upon impact they disintegrated, leaving nothing but empty… space, and the brief flicker of the shield before it settled and dissipated. With the show over, I turned to my mom.

"Where is dad?"

"He's working." Her lips turned into a smile and she looked at me with a glint in her eyes. "But we can find him."

I smiled, it was great to see my mom like this again. Though I couldn't savor the moment due to the sudden shrieking of a train horn. And before long I was thrown from my mom.

* * *

And right into the side of the crate. Effectively waking me and giving me a brief headache since my face seemed to be the only thing that hit it hard enough.

"Oh fuck." I groaned, sitting up and rubbing my head. Taking the moment to examine what I could see from my place between the crates. I… certainly wasn't in Kansas anymore. All I could see was a vast, slightly tan, wasteland.

The train horn went off again, echoing all around me. It likely meant I was close to something, a town would be my guess. To assure myself, I slowly rose to my feet and walked to the edge of the space between the trailers. I gripped onto one of the indents in a trailer and leaned outside for a better look. It would seem we **were** approaching a town, a small, rustic, town at least 11 miles away. I couldn't tell if we were gonna stop there, but it seemed we were slowing down.

As the town got closer, I became sure of the fact that we were slowing down. The train was sounding its horn more frequently, and, well, I could hear the brakes kicking in. It was a loud, ear-piercing, shrill that made itself very present. Within 6 minutes, we were approaching the town at a much slow pace, which was at least around 20MPH. I figured I'd wait until we stopped before I hopped off.

In 4 minutes, the train had came to a stop in the town's train station. My particular trailer wasn't part of where the train stopped within the station, so I was still outside of town quite aways. I didn't stick around long enough to see why they stopped here though, I hopped off and began my walk down a dirt path. Unfortunately, I didn't understand how I could go from a raging blizzard, to scorched earth in an hour and a half. The sun was blazing hot, which might explain why there wasn't any snow. But I've been trying not to apply real-world logic to this place.

The walk was brief, as the town wasn't that far. Though speaking of the town, it… it is hard to explain. Where Ponyville seemed medieval, this town was more old-school. Cowboyish, western, bandits and six-shooter wielding sheriff was the vibe I got from this town. I now stood outside one of the entrances, a tall wooden sign stood high above me, swinging freely in the air.

It read, "Appleloosa."

* * *

After walking through the entrance and following the dirt path for a while, I passed the train station, where people dressed in old western clothes were unloading from a passenger cabin. My business wasn't there, I needed directions to Ponyville or at least a way to send a message to Twilight. So I figured I should look for some help. Turning from the station, I walked down the main road, appropriately named since it housed everything that makes a town... a town. I passed by a saloon named, "Salt Block," and some small stores that didn't bother to attract my attention, though most of the buildings had a horse or two tied to them. I thought that was cool since I'd never seen one in-person.

Beyond the tall clock tower at the edge of town, I found myself drawn to the building with a small sign bearing a star. I didn't run into any cowboys during the walk down towards what I assumed was the sheriff. Or, uh, desperados. The town was very empty, and I didn't understand why since it was still mid-day. Turning around, the people from the train seemed to understand what was going on and immediately booked for the saloon. I took this as a cue and started jogging to the sheriff's, getting there rather quickly. I knocked violently on the door, and it wasn't long before the curtains covering the window next to the door tried to slyly open enough for an eye to see through.

The door opened quickly after that, accompanied by a rough voice, "What the hell you doin' boy? Didn't ya hear the bell?!" I shook my head, surprised by the force in his voice."Well git yer ass inside then!"

I followed his orders without any questions.

* * *

The sheriff was a rather young man, his face bore baby-smooth skin. And was free of any damage, only a comically large mustache covered his sun-stained face. From what I could see, he didn't carry any weapons. Though he wore a large star badge, the call sign of justice in those old-world movies I've watched so long ago.

"So what are ya? Some kinda mercenary?" The Sheriff asked as he closed the door.

"No sir." I replied, "I'm from outta town."

"Well that's obvious, you look like ya ain't even from Equestria. What with your fancy get-up." He motioned to my armor. "So what in tarnation are ya doin' here?"

"I'm looking for a way to Ponyville."

"Ponyville?" He repeated, twirling his comically large mustache. "Why that's north of here, about a 2 day walk."

"I don't have that kind of time." I replied, it wasn't entirely a lie. "Are there any other ways?"

"Too bad partner, and no can do. The train ain't goin' nowhere until I lift the Hold-Up, and its goin' south anyway." He turned and thought for a moment, "And no sane man is gonna set out on their wagons." He walked to the small desk next to the two jail cells, and promptly sat down.

I followed him to his desk and sat in a guest seat, "What's going on?" I asked.

He looked me over, "The town is in quite the pickle. We've got trouble with the local Buffalo tribe."

"Has there been any violence?"

"Not yet. But I'm expecting some."

I leaned back in my chair and thought for a moment, "What got them so riled up?"

The sheriff frowned, "One of the local boys gone and pissed'em off when he threw a rock at one of their younglings. Now we got a whole war group waitin' outside town thirsty for blood."

"So what's the plan here? Are you just gonna wait them out?" I looked around and didn't see any sort of armoury. I wasn't expecting fully-automatic rifles, but maybe some Equestrian version of a lever-action rifle. At the very least I expected some crossbows and swords.

The sheriff looked unsure, but answered, "That would be the plan. But some of the older fella's livin here wanna take the fight to the Buffalo. Worst comes to worst, I might have to request help from Princess Celestia herself."

I didn't have to help, the sheriff already gave me the direction I needed to go to reach Ponyville. But my good nature got the best of me, I couldn't walk away knowing I could've saved lives. Or prevent something that would only end bad.

"How can I help?" I asked, surprising the sheriff.

He seemed perplexed by the offer, "I've got nothin' in sorts of a budget to afford yer help."

"Free of charge." I paused, "Actually I'd like some help getting to Ponyville."

He scoffed at that, "I'll give ya a damn horse if you can solve the town's problem.. But what the hell are ya gonna do? Yer just one man!"

A horse? I've never rode a horse before, that'd be interesting.

"Well I'm gonna talk to them."

He shook his head at that, "Already tried that partner. But the Buffalo Chief ain't gonna be satisfied with that. Y'see, they want something else."

"Like what?"

His face turned a light red, "They want us to destroy perfectly good farmland so they can stampede!" It was obvious he wasn't happy with such an idea.

My train of thought came to a halt, "Wait. Stampede? Why would a bunch of natives want to stampede?"

The sheriff looked at me, "Boy. They're Buffalo."

"Like the animal?"

"Yes." He deadpanned.

Well that certainly changes things. Well not really, I just assumed they were natives, like those Indians that used to exist forever ago.

"So no more peace talks?" I asked.

He kicked his feet up onto his desk and leaned back, "Yer welcome to try. But the last man we sent over for 'peace talks' came back with a broken arm."

I certainly didn't want to harm the.. Buffalo. I've only been free of Celestia's reign for not even a full day, and the thought of getting to trouble like this alarmed me. Maybe I shouldn't help?

"But," the sheriff interrupted my thinking, "you look like a resourceful fella. Maybe you can get em'ta see reason, or at the very last scare em' off."

He sat up and dug into his desk, pulling out some weird object. "They're a special kinda religious, so they tend to fear bad omens and forbid magic. Throwing this thing into a fire inside their camp will hopefully scare em' off."

"What is it?"

"I don't rightfully know. I got it off some crazy mage in a wagon a few days ago." He placed it in my hand, "her name was Taxi, or somethin'."

"Oh. Magic. Great, yeah I'm not too sure I want this thing." I eyed the object with distate, it resembled a shitty clay model of a... Thing. I don't know what the hell it is.

"Yeah I'm with ya there partner. That thing gives me a sour stomach, somethin' about it." The sheriff looked like someone just took a heavy weight off his back.

With a heavy heart, I slid the clay model into a pocket on my thigh before rising to my feet. "So where can I find this 'War Group' you mentioned before?"

"Follow the train tracks, the sons o' bitches are what's keeping the train here."

I walked to the door and opened it, "Alright, I'll be back."

"Best o' luck." He replied as I stepped out.

* * *

I honestly thought I'd never get to do anything like this again for a long time. To have a purpose, a mission, It felt… good, for a lack of better words. But without my gear, I was walking into this with nothing. Stealth would be the only choice here since I can't exactly fist-fight a whole tribe of buffalo. Badass super soldier or not, if you're smart, you know your limits.

As soon as I left the Sheriff's I started jogging, so I was already outside of town and making my way down the tracks. I triggered my helmet, causing it to expand from the collar of my chest armor and cover my face. The helmet's HUD kicked on not long after, giving me much more information than the civilian HUD I had installed in my eyes. Though I couldn't fully realize its potential without my gear, but it did let me do one thing the Princess's couldn't take from me.

And that's cloak. Which I did once I saw 'War Group' lollygagging near the tracks. It was only 2 full-sized buffalo and a small one. But I feared a violent encounter should I approach them, so I stuck to hiding behind rocks and closing the distance every now and then. Even though I figured they couldn't see me with my cloaking engaged, I wasn't sure about the efficiency of their nose. Thus I kept my distance.

Before long, I was within a reasonable distance, far enough to hide without cloaking, and close enough to ambush them if needed. But judging from the Sheriff's info, I didn't wanna bother with fighting, plus these things were MUCH bigger than me. So I thought I'd wait until they left for camp, then I would follow them and throw the clay model in a fire they have going. Scare em' off.

It took about an hour and a half before the Scouting party decided to leave. I had disabled my cloaking long before this and opted for just watching. Following them was also rather easy since they never bothered to check for followers. I'm also guessing they were either planning on robbing the train, or just slowing down its schedule. The blizzard happening north of us was likely stalling all train traffic I wouldn't know, I've got bigger problems right now. For my own sake, I stopped thinking and focused on following the trio.

The camp was very similar to what I imagined it would be. Which wasn't much, all things considered. It consisted of large tents that were spread out, and there was a rather large one in the middle of the camp. And in front of that tent was a huge bonfire.

That was my goal.

Thankfully my cloaking made this really easy as long as I stayed low and took my time, I could simply walk through camp, which is exactly what I did. However, I did notice the work being put into the camp and the buffalo themselves. They were preparing for something, and I feared it might've been war. Of course I stopped thinking about it once I reached the bonfire, my thoughts were entirely on the reaction I'd get from tossing the clay model in.

I pulled the clay model from my armored pocket and held it in my hands for a moment, I briefly considered a plan B should it blow up in my face. Hopefully I can run faster than these Buffalo.

Without a second glance, I tossed the clay model into the fire and immediately backpedaled, incase it DID blow up. My armor wasn't meant for heavy combat, thus an explosion of large, unfathomable magic power could very well mean my demise. Though a large drawback of the cloaking on my armor meant I couldn't move fast. In training, I was told to crouch while using it, or walk at a slow pace. Jogging, sprinting, falling, shooting, punching, and so on would fuck the algorithm my armor uses to determine the field around me.

I had reached an empty tent that was a decent distance away and snuck inside, my thoughts mostly on the results I'd receive. I didn't entirely expect an explosion, the clay resembled **something** , which either meant it would play some kinda hologram thing, or summon a monster. If magic can exist here, the ability to summon monsters via clay seemed pretty reasonable. I mean, fuck, dragons exist. I wouldn't be surprised if Unicorns were real.

Of course I got my answer after a good 5 minutes, it wasn't an explosion, or a hologram.

It was a monster. It summoned some kind of demonic creature you'd see only in nightmares.

Watching it rise from the flames was horrifying, as it stood at least seven feet tall. Three arms grew from its disgustingly muscular body. Long, angular, horns extended from its head, it had eyes that glowed a hellish red, and as it stepped out from the flames, I noticed it had legs which resembled those of a goat. The monster reeled itself back and roared into the open air, I could see saliva flying everywhere from here.

I suddenly had the strange sensation that I might have fucked up. It became more apparent as I watched the Buffalo try to contain the situation I brought upon them. Those willing to fight the creature lined up and charged it. Though it didn't matter, claws erupted from the flesh on its knuckles, and it absolutely **tore** through them.

The demon slashed a Buffalo rushing it and then slammed its claw's into its side while it staggered before proceeding to **pick** it up, using its corpse as a blunt object to beat other Buffalo with. The fight was gory, and entirely one-sided.

Unsure of what to do, I had a few options. Let the monster kill everything and leave, allowing it to be free. Attempt to fight it myself with either the help of the Buffalo, or their unconditional help while I use their kin as a distraction to ambush it. But I had no weapons, what was I to do? Punch it to death? As long as it has claws I don't wanna get anywhere near it. It'd kill me in a heartbeat!

I racked my brain for answers, before settling on one. And I hated myself for thinking of it.

Quickly searching the tent I was inside, I found a very crudely made hand-axe. I swung it in the air a few times and took a deep breath, readying myself to fix something I caused. The sounds of a one-sided battle raged on outside, the Buffalo didn't stand well against a bipedal creature who fought fiercely.

Without a second thought, I raised my helmet and stepped outside, and into hell.

* * *

The dead lay everywhere, few Buffalo still stood their ground, but none dared to close the distance between themself and the monster. It was a standstill, the monster looked tired, and obviously hurt as some of the Buffalo had gotten it if the open wound on its stomach proved anything.

I have plenty of hand-to-hand combat experience, I've ran simulations where I fought 5 guys at once and won. I sparred with aliens, and I've trained in and mastered several martial arts, fighting a demon is just like fighting anything else. This is nothing new for me.

But still, I was nervous.

Standing my ground, I approached the monster. It didn't seem surprised to see me, but the remaining Buffalo certainly were. Though they spoke a language I didn't understand, so I ignored them and approached the monster. It wasn't much taller than me, but it was likely far more stronger than me if its muscled body meant anything.

The beast didn't give time to think, it brought one of its arms back and swung its claws at my head in a broad horizontal fashion. I easily ducked its slow swing and closed the distance, using my momentum, I brought my own arm back and buried my axe into its thigh. I yanked it free and jumped back, barely dodging a fist from it's third arm on its shoulder.

It roared at me, revealing its very long row of tiny sharp teeth. It would seem I had made it very mad.

Luckily it didn't seem smart, the slow, broad, swings it produced told me it relied solely on brute strength. I could predict a swing and react accordingly, dodging and burying the axe somewhere on its body. The surviving Buffalo also backed off, content with allowing me to handle it. That was fine, they were just as slow as the monster, meaning they were of no help in a situation where finesse was needed.

Dodging another slash from its claw's, I buried the axe in its thigh again before backing off. This fight with the monster was getting tiresome, I had stabbed it well over 8 times with the axe, but it seemed to get only angrier. I needed a way to end this quickly, before I falter and get hurt, or worse.

I ducked another wild swing, and rather than stabbing it again, I turned and ran towards a Buffalo. "Do you understand english!?" I shouted over my strained breathing, quickly glancing behind me to see the state of the monster.

The Buffalo nodded.

Good. "I need you to ram it from behind while I distract it! Can you do that!?" He nodded and stood tall, ready to act. "Fantastic." I said to no-one in particular while turning to face the monster that was now charging me.

By reflex, I dove out of its way and landed on my shoulder, hard. Though the pain was temporary, the monster on the other hand, did not stop itself and plowed right into a tent. While it busied itself with getting up, I stumbled back onto my two feet and readied myself. The Buffalo whose help I had asked for seemed…. Unsure now. But I can't exactly pay it much thought, not that I can read the face of a Buffalo that well anyway.

I had to draw the monster away from the tent and into the open again, so I approached it myself, rather than waiting for it to charge again. The axe felt good in my hands, despite its crude look, it was very well made. I pointed the axe at the monster, and yelled, "I'm gonna make you choke on this fucking axe!" In the most rage induced voice I could muster.

Apparently I need to check up on my acting classes, the monster just snarled and started advancing on me. Suddenly, it leapt forward, closing the gap between us, and surprising me with the finesse he pulled from nowhere. In an attempt to dodge, I tried to jump backwards, but instead I fell on my ass. Still, I had narrowly avoided a brutal swipe that would have very well sent me flying.

The monster seemed confident that he had me now, one could call the snarl on its face a smile.

Almost.

Much to its displeasure, and my pleasure, that damn Buffalo finally decided to jump in. Coming in my left, and the monsters right, the Buffalo slammed into its side and sent it sprawling to the ground. I wasted little time and jumped back onto my feet, the Buffalo attempted to keep the monster down by laying on it. But from what I saw before, it could have easily stood up. I didn't question anymore about why it stayed down as long as it did.

With a loud grunt, I slammed the axe into its neck. Quickly placing my left foot on its shoulder blade for better leverage, I pulled the axe free, and shoved it back into its neck. I pulled it free again, and buried it again, pulled it, buried it, pulled it, buried it.

It was around the 7th or 9th time when the axe head broke free from the handle. I had sent myself staggering backwards from the sheer force of trying to pull it free. It was quiet, only the sounds of the Buffalo breathing, and my own exerted breaths filled the air. Looking at my work, I had realized the monster had died long ago. The 3rd or 4th hit probably did him in. By this point, its neck was about 2 more hits from completely severing the head from the body.

I tossed the handle away and sat down, catching my breath.

"T-thank you for helping." Spoke the Buffalo laying on the monster, his face was lightly covered in the blood of the monster.

"Yes." I rose to my feet, "You're quite welcome."

* * *

With the monster slain, I had decided to help the surviving warriors and civilians clean the mess up. In total, 14 Buffalo were slaughtered. I was responsible for all this, but I won't be telling them that. It took several hours, and the Buffalo were more than happy to let me stay as an honored guest. I refused many gifts out of guilt, opting only for meat and place to sleep.

When the Chief of the tribe returned with some warriors, he was unsurprisingly worried. And very upset when he learned his son had passed in the fight. He secluded himself in his tent, allowing only his daughter to bring him food.

Upon being escorted to my private tent, I bid my goodbyes and tried to sleep.

I didn't sleep well that night.

Though the morning came fast, and when I left my tent a Warrior was quick to fetch me. The chief wanted to see me.

* * *

The Chief sat before me, sitting solemnly on his haunches. A bowl of… Buffalo food sat to his right, it was untouched. His chieftan hat was also laying around.

I waited a moment, waited for him to say something first. Eventually he did.

He spoke slow, and full of sorrow. "I wanted to thank you human." His tiny eyes gazed into mine. "For putting a stop to the beast that slaughtered my kin."

"I couldn't stand and watch."

"Still. Few humans would go so far, especially one that doesn't possess magic or wings."

I gave a semi-honest answer, "Those are overrated, you grow to rely on them too much."

He nodded, "You… You are not from here. I am old and have seen many humans in my time, none have worn what you wear nor stopped to help us Buffalo."

"You would be right. Where I come from, I do this on a regular basis." Except I'm not helping Buffalo.

"A mercenary." He rolled his tongue, saying the word rather slow, as if it was unfamiliar to him. "It is rare to see your kind in Equestria."

I decided to stop denying the mercenary thing and went with it, "I'm making my way north. Looking for a place called Ponyville, but I stopped in Appleloosa for a bit since a blizzard was hitting the north hard. Needed money for supplies anyway, so I asked around and got pointed to the Sheriff. He wanted me to do something about you Buffalo."

He narrowed his eyes.

"But!" I raised an arm to calm him, "I came to talk. Hoped I could reach a mutual agreement."

The chief slacked, sighing, "With last night still haunting me, I find myself readily willing to make an agreement. If you had an idea, I shall listen to it."

I didn't actually have anything, so I pulled something from my ass. "What if I could get the humans in Appleloosa to carve a path within their farmland? Rather than destroying all of it, destroy just enough for your kin to still run through."

The Chief's face hardened, he was thinking. I felt a little nervous, my idea seemed rather stupid in theory. But it was better than telling them to find another place to stampede.

"Yes." The Chief suddenly spoke. "That will do just fine."

Oh. Okay.

"I'm happy you think so." I smiled, internally wiping a pretend sweat bead from my forehead. "So what will you do now?" I asked the Chief.

"I will see to finding a truce with Appleloosa. Then I will have my son buried on our stampeding grounds with the rest of our ancestors." He looked away from me, seemingly imagining just that.

"Well I wish you and your kin the best of luck. I need to return to Appleloosa so I can fetch my reward." I offered my hand to him, he raised his beefy hoof and placed it in my hand.

"Before you go, I would like to give you something as well."

The guilt returned, "That won't be necessary."

"Nonsense," He grunted, leading me to the back of his tent, where a giant chest sat. "Around 2 and a half years ago, Appleloosa was built on our land." He began to unlock the chest, still talking, "We Buffalo are civilized creatures and attempted to appeal to the Equestrian court demanding the dismantle of Appleloosa." Then he opened the chest and my mouth dropped.

The chest was abso-fucking-lutely full of bits.

The Chief spoke over the choir of angels that began to sing in my head at the sight of all the money. "The court denied us our rightful land, and instead gave us 50,000 bits and a handwritten apology from Celestia herself." He shifted and sat next to the open chest, "We Buffalo have no need for money, but you certainly could." The Chief smiled at me, "Take as much as you can carry. It's the least we can do."

I wiped the slobber from my mouth, "No thanks Chief. I really appreciate this, but I'll pass."

Now he was confused, "Why refuse?"

"You're kin were in trouble. I don't expect a payout everytime I save people, I'm not greedy. Never have been."

He rolled his tongue, "A mercenary who isn't greedy? Now that is something!" He bellowed.

"Yes sir." I smiled, "I do it more for the thrill."

He started laughing again.

"Whatever you say boy, now.. At least let us give you food for your travel north…"

* * *

Refusing the temptation of money, I settled for dried nuts. Something they owned in a proportion that almost equaled the amount of Bits hidden in the Chief's hut. After an hour, I set back for Appleloosa with a new satchel to wear over my shoulder. It held the maps, bits, and paperwork Celestia had given me. As well as a days worth of dried nuts, and a crudely made glass bottle of clean water.

I was back in town within half an hour.

Opening the door to the Sheriff's office, I announced my presence. "Hey Sheriff Silverstar!"

The Sheriff jumped in his seat, his hat falling from his head. He was sleeping.

"Dammit boy!" He shouted, picking his hat up and putting it on. "Oh.. it's you. Thought I'd never see ya agin'."

"I'm here for that horse." I stated, straight to the point. "I talked to the Chief of the Buffalo tribe and got him to agree to carving a path through the farmland, a Buffalo will come by later."

The Sheriff opened his mouth, "But that means destroying far-" I cut him off by grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling him close.

"Listen here, Fuckface. That damn model you gave me turned into a giant fucking monster and killed 14 Buffalo, and it almost killed me. But I killed the son-of-a-bitch and got the fucking results you wanted," I snarled, "He is willing to cooperate, you will be too." With that I threw him back into his chair. "It's farmland built off the backs of their dead ancestors, you've got no right to ban them from it."

The Sheriff fixed his hat and stood up, "I outta arrest you for that… But you're right, I've got great respect for my ancestors as well, I wouldn't wish the same for them." He stepped around his desk and told me to follow him outside. "And I'm tired of this stand-off anyway, so is half the damn town." He started muttering things I couldn't hear.

The Sheriff led me to a horse around back, it was all brown and equipped with a saddle and some small bags. "Here ya go partner. Don't say I'm not a man of my word, and here." He handed me a small bag, "Hazard pay."

The bag contained 60 bits.

"Now get the hell out of my town." He said while frowning, then turned to leave.

I watched him leave, then turned to my new horse. Studying it, the saddle and harness, and the bags on its haunches. To no-one in particular, I announced, "I think I'll call you Roach." Then proceeded to climb on top.

Riding Roach was a learning experience, but by time I was about 3 miles from Appleloosa. I had gotten the basics down, galloping was hard, and uncomfortable. But I'll get there.

I always do.

END=====================================================================

After Credits = What happens after Anderson performs his actions in the story. It is essentially his reputation.

 _ **After helping Appleloosa with its problem, news of a man in strange armor began to spread. The story is told in many ways, but all versions are forgotten by the end of the day.**_

 _ **The Buffalo tribe is thankful Anderson showed up. And will now regard him as a honored guest should he ever return.**_

 _ **Anderson's adventuring party grows by one, with the introduction of Roach. His new horse.**_

* * *

Inventory = You readers can ignore this, it's mostly for me to keep track of everything he has.

Bits - 71

Maps of Equestria and Ponyville

Satchel

Dried nuts and crude (glass) water bottle

* * *

Authors note - HOLY SHIT THIS TOOK FOREVER TO WRITE. WHAT? I'VE BEEN GONE FOR MONTHS? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I've been here, just not writing.

Y'know this story has over 5k reads with a fantastic reader return percentage. SO WHY THE FUCK DO I STILL ONLY HAVE 14 REVIEWS? AND YES PERSON COMPLAINING ABOUT ME USING WANKING IN A CHAPTER, I USED IT, ITS SO FUCKIN IMMATURE AND NONFUNNY AND YOU TOTALLY EXPECT BETTER OF ME? Nah fam.

Like, favorite, subscribe, follow. REVIEW. FUCKING REVIEW. I NEED CRITICISM OR I'LL NEVER IMPROVE.

Oh and thanks to everyone who commented nice things.

 _ **Next Chapter - Homecoming**_

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Slim Dustpan chapter 2 . Jan 24

Wow. Ponies are faggot xenophobes

 **Yes. Yes they are.**

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Ol' Sigma chapter 9 . Aug 23, 2017

keep writing this

 **I will.**

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Shadows Rise From The Tides chapter 9 . Aug 22, 2017

Srry bout not reviewing before (dont get me wrong ive loved the story since i first read the first chapter) I can tell u that while it is not a "new" concept I really like your take on it

Well Bloody Done Author

 **Hey thanks, I'm really trying to avoid stereotyping Anderson's character. I want him to be good at violent things, but not everything else. There are more things he is capable of. He is the newest version of the AMAHS super soldier afterall, the perfect blend of skill, technology, and humanity.**

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THIS GUY chapter 5 . Aug 9, 2017

i think its funny that 1 in 350 people said hi to you :D no joke you lit up the day a little when i read that thank

 **I'm glad you find it funny lol. It's pretty annoying actually, makes me feel like I'm writing for nothing.**

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Guest chapter 5 . Mar 26, 2017

will it be a harem in the chapter

 **Er… no. Sorry he gets one girl and that's about it, but he might bounce around. Still thinking over that.**

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Ernsop chapter 5 . Mar 7, 2017

I'm really liking where this story is going, very solid, and I see the potential in you as a writer, again I love you're work, and I'm sorry for the short comment, It's just 4:19 AM where i am right now, and I'm writing my own story, either way, best of luck, I look forward to more!

 **Hey thanks man! These are the comments I look forward to. I apologize for not writing as much as you'd like me to. While I may enjoy doing this for the most part, I wouldn't call it a hobby. And I wish you luck with your story as well! Might be bigger than mine by now.**


	13. Homcoming (10)

**Authors note - OK. So I'm trying to establish a decent sense of size for Equestria. From my own self-made lore, the magic-powered trains of Equestria average 80 miles an hour. And while not stated in the story, (I think), the ride Anderson went from mid-trip-to-Ponyville to Appleloosa was about 3 and a half hours. For the most part, Anderson was rather close to Ponyville when he was ejected from the train, which is why Rainbow found him so quickly. And through some quick research into horses, I had enough info to start writing. Equestrian horses are known for endurance.**

 **Tl; DR - Canterlot to Ponyville = 2-hour train ride. Equivalent to 160 miles, though exact numbers are in the air.**  
 **Appleloosa to Ponyville = 3-hour train ride. Equivalent to 240 miles, though exact numbers are in the air.**

The Fallen Soldier

Chapter 10

Homecoming

* * *

 **14 minutes after leaving Appleloosa.**

I stuck to the train tracks, using the dirt road that was conveniently near it. Roach and I trotted along, biding our time, we knew we would get there eventually. It was only a matter of time.

As we traveled on, I used the time to think.

What am I going to do once I finally get the chance to investigate the crash site of my ship? The possibility of it being repairable is… low. Not that I could fix it anyway, should the ship be salvageable. Where do I go from there? Perhaps I could look into what brought me here? Cross-referencing any damage on my ship to my internal data banks might prove fruitful. But...

For once, since being set free into this fantasy world. I was at a loss. What was I to do?

No. No. I can't start thinking about this. I need to stay focused, I need to get to Ponyville, make contact with Twilight, and go from there.

I will find a way.

* * *

 **2 HOURS LATER**

Roach seemed tired, so I slowed our pace to a walk and continued on down the dirt road. Rest was important, an exhausted horse won't be any good to me. This was gonna be a long trip, and my final destination was still very far away. Luckily for me, this trip gave me plenty of thinking time.

And I fucking hate it.

* * *

 **4 HOURS LATER**

I've drunk most of my water and snacked on the dried nuts. Though I didn't have anything for Roach, I assumed it ate grass. So I stopped by a small stream of crystal clear water and allowed Roach to drink and graze for a bit. Then we continued on.

* * *

 **6 HOURS LATER**

Oh my fucking god. My ass hurts.

* * *

 **7 HOURS LATER**

I decided to rest for a good while. Partially to let Roach rest some more, and partially because I couldn't feel my ass anymore. On the bright side, I could see the distant sight of the infamous Everfree forest. I was reaching the halfway point, though I've also been riding all day. I should continue until I reach the forest and then set up camp for the day.

* * *

 **10 HOURS LATER**

The road came to an end, but the train tracks didn't. Instead, they passed over a giant ass ravine. I pulled Roach to a stop near the tracks and hopped off. My own curiosity led me to the edge, where I slowly peered off and into the deep abyss below.

I saw a stream, though it probably looked more like a raging river up close. The height which I viewed it from gave it a very tame look. And the dimming sunlight made it hard to see much else. Not that there was much to see to begin with. It's just a huge fucking hole.

I eased myself away from the edge, stood up, then turned and clapped my hands towards Roach. "All right! Let's set camp for the day." I announced to Roach.

It looked at me, then went back to doing horse stuff.

"Right," I mumbled to myself, as I settled into the work of making camp.

I collected wood from the nearby Everfree Forest. Then brought it back to where I left Roach tied to a tree. I formed a small pile and set to lighting it aflame. Before long I had a small fire to keep me warm, not that I needed it. Perhaps Roach would enjoy the radiating warmth more than me.

It was still partially day out, and since my time didn't match Equestrian time, I had only my eyes to rely on. And judging from the position of the sun, amongst other highly complicated algorithms I had just run through my head. I could conclude one thing… It was getting late.

My camp consisted of a fire by a tree, and the patch of grass I'm currently laying on. My satchel was leaning against said tree. As I lay there beneath the tree, basking in the cool end-of-the-day sunshine, and enjoying the gentle Equestrian breeze I had grown used to since riding from Appleloosa. I had more thoughts that let themselves known.

How is my mom doing right now? I told her I'd visit as soon as I finished AMAHS training and earned my suit. But that won't be happening anytime soon. On top of that… how is Aria? It's been so long since I've seen her in person.

For a brief moment, I thought, then rolled onto my side and gazed into the distant forest. From here, it looked much more ominous, hiding behind the setting sun. I swear I could see glowing eyes from here, but I paid them no mind.

Let them watch. Whatever the hell they are.

Over the next hour, my thoughts varied in its focus, but usually ended wondering about the future. To my dismay, these thoughts haunted me until I finally fell asleep.

* * *

 **5 HOURS LATER**

When I woke, it was pitch black. My campfire had gone out, leaving only ash remains. But Roach and my satchel remained perfectly safe and sound. At first, I tried to sleep again but found it very impossible. Thus I decided now was just as good as any time to set out once again. But the pitch black of the night made it hard to see, luckily, my helmet came equipped with some very bright LEDs. I turned them on, grabbed my satchel, then boarded Roach and set off down the tracks. Crossing over the ravine, and settling back into a familiar pace.

Given that I only rode for a little over 10 hours, I figured I still had at least another 10 hours to go.

* * *

 **5 HOURS LATER**

We had stopped several times, where I allowed Roach to rest, and myself time to eat. But this particular hour wasn't a resting one. No, a train had appeared on the horizon. Though it didn't change anything, as it was heading towards Appleloosa.

Roach and I trotted along until we finally met the train, I had hoped to signal the conductors to sound the horn. But was stopped by the blank look of one conductor as he watched me and Roach pass by through a window in the front train. Due to the speed at which he passed me and Roach, I couldn't fully see his face. But I think he looked scared.

Something about a man riding a horse in the midst of nightfall, dressed in black armor with a head shining as bright as the sun must've been off-putting. Nevertheless, I continued on my way.

* * *

 **11 HOURS LATER**

After a number of breaks in between our journey, Roach and I finally achieved our goal. We found Ponyville.

It only took 23 hours of horseback riding, countless breaks to look for water, and one night spent under the Equestrian sky. But we're here, or well, we're outside of Ponyville. It was around 4 hours ago that we found the first sight of snow, from that point onward, I knew we were close to the end.

The sun had long since graced the lands with its presence. From my estimate, I made camp around 7 pm yesterday, slept till 12 am, rode for another 11 hours, and arrived at the outskirts of Ponyville by 11 am. On my way in, I had passed this huge farm, where I waved to a small tanned girl who saw me approaching from her treehouse.

The train tracks broke from the path hours ago, but now I'm seeing it once again. Along with a small stream of water that traveled right into town. Following the road, I crossed a tiny bridge that covered the stream I mentioned.

I continued through Ponyville, heading towards the giant tree that could easily be seen from horseback. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a small building with a sign depicting a mug full of a dark liquid, which I assumed was coffee.

Considering my options, I decided Twilight could wait another 20 minutes. I wanted one last cup of coffee to enjoy alone before my life became a living hell. So I turned Roach and headed straight for the building. After a few more minutes of walking, I parked Roach outside and tied him to the fence alongside another horse. Then I walked around Roach, and into the building.

Once inside the building, I sat at a table near the entrance and patiently waited for a waiter. Within a minute, one was right there. "Our menu, sir." The waitress spoke while laying a menu in front of me. "I'll be back in a moment to take your order."

"Thanks," I replied.

Thumbing the menu open, I thought over the options. Sandwiches, sandwiches, sandwiches… ah-hah! Coffee! With my order in hand, I patiently waited for the waitress, who was busy helping another customer. She returned to me as soon as she finished helping them.

"Know what you want sir?"

"Yes, Ma'am. I'll take the grilled cheese with an espresso."

She smiled, replied, "Right away." Then grabbed my menu and scurried off.

I leaned back in my chair and sighed.

8 minutes later she brings out my grilled cheese as well as my espresso and sets them in front of me. I tell her thanks.

"Your total will be 7 bits. You can pay at the door on your way out." Then she ripped my receipt from her little book and sat it by my food. "Enjoy and come again!" She smiled before walking off.

Once she was gone, I pulled my espresso up to my face and examined it. A thick golden-brown foam floated on top, hinting at master craftsmen behind the scenes of this cafe. Satisfied with my purchase, I drank my espresso and devoured the grilled cheese.

Twilight was the last thing on my mind right now.

Though as soon as I thought that, two very beautiful women walked in. Both stood rather tall but differed greatly in looks. One possessed dark purple hair that stopped at her shoulders, her eyes were a dark blue, standing out from her silk-looking skin which only furthered to compliment the color of her lips. She also wore makeup, or eye-liner to be specific, that was a lighter blue than her eyes, it drew attention only to direct it back to her eyes. In short, she was gorgeous.

Her friend was no exception, for her pink hair traveled far past her shoulders, almost down to her waist. Her eyes were almost the same color as the purple one's eye-liner. Where her purple-haired friend wore makeup to highlight her beauty, she didn't need it. It was all natural, the curve of her brows, the slightly puffy cheeks, her small nose, the supple look of her lips. I was mesmerized.

I was also starring and made no attempt to hide it. Before long, the two women stopped their conversation to look at me. Both gasped upon doing so, looked at each other, then back at me. Either by accident or not, I made eye contact with the pink haired one. She blushed, removed her gaze from mine, and stepped behind her friend. Who wasted no time in leaving the pink one behind to approach me.

"A-Are you Anderson by any chance?" She stuttered at first but managed to politely ask. She sounded snobbish, her accent spoke of a wealthy background, one that didn't surprise me now that I'm looking at their clothes.

"That I am," I replied, sipping at my espresso again. "I'm assuming you either work for Celestia or are in collaboration with Twilight Sparkle?"

"Collaboration is an odd way of putting it." She smiled as she sat across me. "My name is Rarity, and this is Fluttershy," she waved to the pink haired woman, "We're friends of Twilight."

"Ok." I sipped my espresso again, "Anything you want from me? I was going to go see Twilight as soon as I finished here."

"Darling, I by no means have any intention to rush you, but Twilight has been going quite… crazy since you didn't show up on the train 2 days ago." She idly played with her thumb, biting her lip, trying to think of something. "So has Princess Celestia, once she got word you didn't arrive."

I raised a brow at that, "I wasn't trying to avoid anything. if that was a thought you ever had. I was…"

"Oh I know darling, Twilight made it quite clear to us that she tried to teleport you back to town before the blizzard hit." She looked away for a moment, "In all honesty, most of us believe you perished in that very blizzard. But it's good to see you didn't."

"It'll take more than that to kill me."

"Quite." She faked a smile, leaving the table to grow quiet.

Awkwardly, I quickly finished my drink and stood up. "I'll pay for this and head for Twilight's. I suppose I'll meet you there?"

"Ah.. yes, I suppose. Come Fluttershy, we'll just have to catch up another time." She motioned for her friend to follow, and soon they left.

After I paid for the experience - a whole 7 bits - I stepped out to fetch Roach. Rarity and Fluttershy stood not far from the building, they spoke amongst themselves until they finally noticed me. Rarity was the only one to talk, "Anderson! Dear! Would you like to walk there together?!"

I walked down the steps, "Sure, just let me fetch Roach." With that, I turned and approached my trusty steed, who neighed at the sight of me. "Easy Roach," I said as I quickly untied him and hopped on. As I turned Roach around, the two women looked dumbfounded.

"What?" I asked, approaching and stopping next to them.

"Where in Celestia have you been?" Asked an astounded Rarity.

"Uh, Appleloosa?" I replied.

It looked like her eyes were gonna pop out if she opened them any further. On the other hand, Fluttershy approached me for the first time, well more like she approached Roach, she didn't acknowledge me until after she petted it. Her compliment was a faint whisper, "I like your horse."

I smiled at her and faced Rarity, "I'll tell you the story on the way to Twilight's."

With that, the four of us set off.

* * *

 **Author's note - Personally I wasn't happy with the start, but towards the end, I liked it more. So here we go, the next chapter, right before Anderson finally meets Twilight Sparkle. This is the 2nd to last chapter of the first arc. Anyway, some news for how I plan to do this. I'm not doing a bullshit, "war comes to Equestria" thing. Instead, my focus from here will be building a story about settling in. I'm gonna have many different sub-arcs that along the main story. These mostly involve character building; for example, when writing chapters that involve Anderson and Rainbow Dash advancing their friendship, I'm thinking about calling them "Chasing The Rainbow [insert ch number here]" but I might change that since I feel like it insinuates a romantic relationship. In short, the story will go as follows.**

 **Sub-Arcs - Anderson advancing his relationships with the Main 6. And chapters based on actual cartoon episodes, adventures and hilarity ensue.**  
 **Next MAIN Arc - Anderson settles into life in Equestria.**

 **Also, I believe I already have the ending in mind for this, it's not what many of you might want, depending on how much you like his character by that point. But… serious question that I really need y'all to answer. How do you feel about Anderson being able to cast magic? Right now, there are many things he can't do since he is not of this world. One is the capability to harness the magic of any kind, thus he is perceived as a void to those sensitive to magic. This plays greatly to his advantage but also weakens him greatly to dangers of Equestria. I will not make him a god, he will NEVER be magically stronger than Twilight, and his ability to cast will be worked upon until the very end. While I think about it, I would like you to think about it.**

 **Sorry for the long note, thanks for reading, and I'll try to get the next chapter done quickly.**

 **Next chapter - Home Sweet Home**

 **Edit - Also how do you feel about learning more about Anderson's lore? He comes from a version of humanity where we have long since made contact and befriended aliens. Think Mass Effect.**

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avidreader-everafter chapter 12 . Jun 27  
Good to see this story again, it's always a fun read. Hope to see more firm you soon. Best of luck. Everafter  
 **Thanks**.

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mcvc90 chapter 1 . Jun 30  
m8 good story keep it up.  
what was going through your head on 9 when you wrote wanking?  
 **You ever do a thing where while thinking, you start saying a word over and over? Then at some point, you change the word to something similar on accident or on purpose? That's what that is. And thanks for commenting!**

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eren jeager 1st chapter 1. Jun 30  
Well I frggn love it so far I feel like the power balance could be tweaked in the soldiers favor a bit but I absolutely love your take on Equestria please continue show must go on  
 **There will be no balancing of power. My version of Equestria is much more grueling than the cartoon version, featuring monsters from all realms of existence. Anderson may be a badass supersoldier with fancy armor 400 years from the future, but he'll learn soon enough his armor isn't appropriate for what lurks in the dark corners of Equestria. Thanks for commenting!**


	14. Home Sweet Home (11)

The Fallen Soldier

Chapter 13

Home Sweet Home

* * *

According to Rarity, Twilight and Celestia have been on quite the rampage in their efforts to track me down. Although Twilight has been much more… passionate about it. Frankly, I wasn't sure if I should feel flattered to fetch that much attention, or insulted. I'm almost 30 years old and have little need for a babysitter. Though given the circumstances, I particularly saw Celestia's attention as hypocritical since she technically gave me citizenship in Equestria. Perhaps she still didn't fully trust me? Not that I can sneak off anywhere anyway, where the hell would I go?

"After that horrible blizzard…" Droned on the voice of Rarity.

I snapped back from my thoughts, it's been but a few minutes since we left that cafe and I'm already dozing off. That day-long journey has fucked with my train of thought.

"Has it really been that bad?" I suddenly asked aloud to no-one in particular, though I expected Rarity to answer.

"Oh by Celestia yes!" She exclaimed, twisting her head, rolling her eyes, and gently moving her arms up. She really exaggerated that. "She hasn't stopped since she found out!" Rarity began to rant, "We were all awaiting your arrival - quite eagerly I might add - and were in shock when you never stepped off the train!" She took a quick gasp of air and continued, "She stormed onto the train and hunted down a poor worker who looked scared for her life when she saw Twilight approaching her!" She turned to Fluttershy, who was minding her own business and kept going. "She scared that poor woman half to death! By the gods! The look in her eyes!"

I gave her a hesitant smile and an awkward chuckle when she looked at me. I had little words for her, and opted for a simple, "Wow."

She rolled with that, "But now that you're here darling, we can put all this behind us and get Twilight back to normal in a jiffy." She started walking a little faster after saying that, she also stopped talking.

In an attempt to fill the empty air, I tried my hand at small talk. "How long have you known Twilight, Rarity?"

She was very quick to reply, "About a month, dear." She looked up and brought an arm to her mouth, she seemed to be in deep thought. "Her arrival has brought a refreshing tune to my daily life, that's for sure." Her words seemingly reflected in the smile she showed me.

I suppose it was nice to see that Twilight had some good pals. Despite her haughty appearance, Rarity seems to be quite the person.

"What about you dear? How are you enjoying Equestria?" She looked up at me, even Fluttershy peeked out from behind her hair to gaze at me.

"Well, it ain't home," I calmly replied. "It's… something, I'm not too sure on how to explain it."

Rarity smiled at me, "I understand. Home is where the heart is after all." She returned to looking at the road we walked down, "Perhaps Twilight can help you return home, she's a very intelligent woman."

I showed no emotion as I replied, "Don't get my hopes up." Then gave her a small smile, "I appreciate the thought though Rarity."

A somber look overtook her smooth facial features, "Of course." Then she coughed, and smiled, "I'm sure you'll like it here in Ponyville, Anderson. The townsfolk are fantastic once they get to know you."

Welcoming the new subject, I replied, "I don't doubt it. Though I'd love to know what the town offers in terms of entertainment?"

We rounded another building, bringing Twilight's library into full view. Finally, I have arrived at my destination since leaving for it days ago. I mentally readied myself to face Twilight after so long.

"Well, darling, Ponyville features many establishments you'd see elsewhere in Equestria. Although we do have a few noteworthy restaurants that tend to garner the eye of tourists traveling Equestria."

"What would these restaurants be exactly?"

"We passed one of the two on the way here, it's called The Pigeon and is known for its exotic foods from the south. Though it is a little pricey, it's worth a least a visit."

I wasn't one for expensive restaurants, so the chances of me ever going were low. I needed to devote all my financial resources into funding my trip into the Everfree anyway. But something tells me Twilight will force herself into my trip as well. I need to create some backup plans in case I run into any wildlife while escorting a civilian. Although I have the feeling Twilight can handle herself, I'd rather not take the chances. Without my gear, I'm in no condition myself to be charging headfirst into a forest people with magic fear to tread.

"I'll keep it in mind Rarity. For now, let's put this talk off, we've got Twilight to handle now." I spoke, pulling Roach to a stop near the entrance into Twilight's library.

"Of course, darling." Rarity replied, eyeing the door, then looking at me as I climbed off Roach and tied him to a nearby post. Hesitantly, I left the horse be, telling myself to find better arrangements for it so it didn't sit out in the cold 24/7.

"Now… " Rarity began, "It might be best that you let me do the talking for now. Lest… well, just me work my magic."

I had no intent to argue with her thinking.

Rarity pushed the door open, as she walked inside I motioned for Fluttershy to follow her, she gazed me in the eye once and looked away, quickly following after Rarity. Then I followed her inside.

It was much warmer than the last time I was here, perhaps it had something to do with magic? There is a giant crystal chained to the ceiling, it's not glowing, or emitting a sound, but it could still produce heat. I think.

"Twilight! Darling! Where are you?!" Rarity yelled into the open air.

Almost immediately there were footsteps from upstairs, they were soft and weak, but moved incredibly quickly. As I turned to watch the stairs leading upstairs, a small purple dragon came barreling down them, so fast, in fact, that he tripped near the bottom. He jumped back up as quick as he fell though.

"Rarity!" The little dragon spoke, his lizard eyes bright at the sight of the woman.

In that instant, I assumed he had some kinda crush on her.

"Oh, Spike! It's fantastic to see you, truly." She knelt down to his level, "Where is Twilight? She has company." Rarity looked back at me, where I awkwardly stood.

His eyes were already wide at the sight of Rarity, but when he saw me, they opened so wide it looked like they were about to pop out.

"You found him!?" He shouted.

Rarity cringed and put a finger to her lips, "Quiet Spike! We need to ease Twilight into the news! You know how she gets when things don't go according to her plans!"

Spike nodded, seemingly perfectly aware of how she's been behaving recently. "Of course!" He quickly glanced behind himself and up the stairs, then turned his head back to Rarity. "I'll go ask her to come downstairs."

Rarity nodded and stood back up as the little lizard turned and dashed upstairs, calling, "Twilight!" As he did so.

Once he disappeared, Rarity was quick to turn and instruct me, "Anderson, Twilight is going to be very hands-on with you when she sees you." She stepped closer to me, "Try not to get upset and maintain the best patience you can with her. Twilight can get very… passionate when her plans don't work out. So it's best if you just let her do what she must to satisfy herself."

I simply blinked and nodded, "Understood. I'll just stand here and look pretty."

She smiled, "That would be fantastic."

Suddenly, the room flashed purple. I turned towards the source and saw a distraught Twilight. Her hair was a mess, her eyes were bloodshot, and dark bags slept under her eyes.

I wasn't aware I had this effect on women.

Twilight then approached me at an inhuman pace, making me stumble backward at the sudden closeness. Her hands reached out and gripped my cheeks, she stood on her tippy-toes and leaned towards me - Although her short stature still left plenty of space between us - giving me an unwanted close-up of her face and the exhaustion that had appernalty overtaken her during my absence. She gazed into my own eyes for a moment, she twisted my head to the left and right.

"Are you okay!?" She more-or-less shouted into my ears.

Forcing my head into a neutral position, I calmly replied, "Yes, I'm fine."

Twilight absolutely unloaded on me in the next second, "Where have you been?! What exactly happened on that train?! Why didn't you teleport with me and Rainbow?! Why didn't you come back sooner?! Why is there green stuff stained on your outfit?! Were you attacked?! What attacked you?! Are sure you're not hurt in any way?!" With each question, her face inched closer.

Eventually, I reached up and gripped her wrists, gently prying them off of my face,"Let's do one question at a time, please."

Her eyes focused on me with this crazed glare hiding behind the exhaustion. It seemed like my words didn't get through since she started to open her mouth again. But Rarity was quick to grab her by the shoulder and pull her away from me.

"Twilight! Darling! Let's calm down, yes?!" Rarity twisted Twilight around until she was facing her.

I couldn't see Twilight's face, but that death glare Rarity was giving her seemed to tell me plenty. The room was silent for a moment until Twilight reached up and removed Rarity's arms from her shoulders.

"Yes, you're right Rarity." Twilight coughed, turning to face me. "My... apologies, Anderson." She then approached me again, though much slower. "I've been worried." She simply stated.

Guess it was time to work that magic. "So I've heard," I replied.

There was silence, she didn't know what to say to me, and I sure as hell didn't know what to say to her. I was told to come here, and that's what I did. What happens from here is beyond me.

"Twilight, darling, why don't you make us some tea and we'll sit and discuss Anderson's recent… adventures?" Rarity interjected into our little staredown.

Twilight lit up at the idea, "Of course!" She turned to the little lizard, "Spike make us some tea please!" Then proceeded to order all of us into the kitchen at the back of the library.

* * *

We all sat at the kitchen table.

It was quiet.

"Sooooo…" Twilight began, "Where… what have you been doing lately?"

I just looked at her, "Twilight." I began, stopping briefly to consider my next words, "Just ask your questions."

She licked her lips nervously, "I-I don't think there is enough time in the day." She joked, cracking an unsure smile.

I didn't laugh, instead taking a deep breath."As you already know, I was ejected from the train following my involvement with an argument between a couple. I walked for a while, Rainbow Dash found me, then she summoned you - Twilight - with that thing you gave her." I took a breath, then continued, "Afterwards I boarded a train that was heading my way."

"How did you board a moving train?" Rarity asked, "They don't stop mid-trip."

"I jumped on it." I deadpanned.

She looked at me, then Twilight, then Fluttershy - whose quiet demeanor made it easy to forget about her - and then back at me. She looked like she wanted to ask something else, but chose to keep her thoughts to herself.

I continued, "After boarding the train, I chose to stay between the crates I had fallen in between. I must've fallen asleep because when I awoke, I was near this old-western town called Appleloosa."

"You went all the way to Appleloosa?!" Twilight exclaimed, "That's a 3-hour train ride!"

"Well, I wouldn't know since I was asleep for most of it." I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms. "Anyway, the train stopped there due to some local Buffalo protesting on the tracks."

"Protesting?" Rarity asked.

Before I could answer, Twilight did it for me, "Oh yes, the local Buffalo tribe near Appleloosa started sending negotiators to Canterlot to discuss some kind of problem. Rumor is it's about Appleloosa's sudden construction."

Was Twilight interrupting me something for me to become adjusted too? Hopefully not, otherwise it'll get old pretty fast.

"Twilight is right for the most part." I uncrossed my arms at the sight of Spike bring a plate full of drinks. One-by-one he sat a drink in front of us all, my drink… my tea was dark and steaming. I wasn't sure if I had to add sugar or anything, maybe I just drank it? I internally shrugged and pushed the thought off, it was hot anyway, no point in burning my tongue. Continuing my talking, I began, "Appleloosa was built on the sacred land the Buffalo used to stampede, which is some kind of ritual they practice. I decided to ask the town sheriff for directions to Ponyville, he gave me them, but also mentioned the Buffalo problem they were having."

"Why would he bother telling you?" Twilight asked, stirring her tea with a spoon she pulled from nowhere.

I looked down at my tea, "He thought I was a mercenary."

The table was silent for a moment, Rarity broke the air, "Well… you do look like one, darling. What with your… outfit and demeanor " Twilight shot her a glare as if she had just insulted me.

Ignoring her comment, "Playing along," I simply continued talking, "I asked him for more details and then for help in getting to Ponyville if I did manage to solve his problem."

"How exactly did you plan to solve the problem?" Twilight asked.

"Talking."

"And how'd that go?" She followed.

"If I couldn't talk them into leaving, or some form of agreement. The Sheriff gave me a magical clay model to summon some spirit to scare them off." I added, "since they're religious and all."

"A clay model?!" Spike of all people interrupted.

Turning his way, I spoke, "Yeah. It was supposed to bring a spirit, but instead summoned a monster."

Everyone gasped at that, then the smallest voice spoke up, "Was anyone hurt?"

That voice was Fluttershy. It was the first time to spoke loud enough for me to hear, by this point I thought she might have been some kind of mute.

Before I could answer her question, Twilight asked, "What did it look like?!" With a serious expression.

Rather than attempting to describe the monster, I held my eyes shut for 5 seconds, activating my synthetic eyeballs and launching the Heads-Up-Display. When I opened them, I went straight into the system menu and started searching through all my files. Eventually, after running a quick search, I found the recorded fight I had with the monster.

Twilight was the first to question this, "Why did you eyes turn yellow?"

Knowing the explanation would be long, and Twilight would want more and more, the more I answered; I ignored her and raised my left arm - the cybernetic one - and flipped the palm of it upwards. A light flickered briefly, and then a still image of the monster emerging from the flames -  
took its place. I looked at Twilight, "This is it."

Her mouth was hanging open, everyone else just had wide eyes.

"That looks like an Imp." Spike casually added to the open air, calmly stirring his tea.

Twilight turned to Spike, mouth still wide open, eyes now wide as well.

"I read about ancient monsters in my free time." He, again, casually replied, whilst sipping his tea.

Giving Twilight a moment to restart herself, I decided to try my tea. It was ok.

"How in Celestia did you get away unscathed?" Twilight asked.

"Well-" I paused, wondering if I should mention that it killed over a dozen Buffalo before I finally decided to intervene -"It… hurt a lot of Buffalo before I could find a suitable weapon to fight it myself."

"Darling! You couldn't possibly have!" Rarity announced, violently sipping her tea.

Unsure of how to respond, I said, "Yeah, I uh, killed it with an axe I found in some tent."

Now it was quiet again.

"You what?!" Spike shouted in surprise from across the table.

"I killed it," I repeated, "With an axe I found."

The look on his face told stories, though he kept talking, "You're just a-"

"Supersoldier with training and technology hundreds of years superior then what any of you will see in a lifetime?" I finished for him, then I leaned toward Twilight, talking, "Let's get one thing straight Twilight, so there is nothing left in the air, I am a soldier. I have been one for the last 13 years, and I plan to continue being one, I am not the kind of guy you make friends with." I leaned back, sighed, and rubbed my eyes. "At least that would be the case where I come from, but I'm here, and the chances of me being stuck her permanently grow every second."

Twilight didn't know how to respond.

So I kept talking, "I don't have the time to dawdle here at this table and talk about my past. I need to find the crash site of my ship and look for signs pointing to what made it crash in the first place. From what I've read in the Royal Canterlot Library, the weather in the Everfree Forest isn't manually controlled, and no efforts to preserve the ship have been made on Celestia's part; So I need to get there before Mother Nature herself destroys the damn thing."

Not that I was trying to come off as a bad guy, or ruin the first impression I made on the woman and her two friends. But I had a simple goal right now, I wasn't trying to avoid the conservation, such a thing would be inevitable since I'm supposed to live with her for the time being.

"Look," I turned to glance at Rarity and Fluttershy, both wide-eyed and unsure of what I was to say next, "You don't even have to go, I know the forest is dangerous, and I know you or any of your gal pals don't have any actual combat training. But I need to do this, I need answers, I need something to settle my mind. Just tell me where I can find the ship, and then point me to the local... Blacksmith, so I can buy what I need."

I know I just met Twilight, and now I'm already trying to leave, but it's like my dad always said.

No time better than the present. Why wait? I'm here, Twilight is here, I just gotta ask her what direction to walk in to find it. The ship is destroyed, I know that much, it won't be getting me off this planet anytime soon. I just want answers, the sooner, the better.

"Anderson." Twilight suddenly spoke up, "I'm not gonna let you do that."

I raised a brow at that, "What? Why?" I asked, "Is it, Celestia?"

"No." She declared, "It's the forest, Anderson. It's incredibly dangerous and host to many different kinds of unknown lifeforms that could very easily kill you!" She blinked a few times before adding, "Capable soldier or not!"

Internally, I sighed over how things never seem to go my way, why couldn't she just say, 'yes,' and let me go on my way? I'll come back and she can ask me whatever she wants then.

"So what?" I rubbed my face, "You and your gal pals gonna escort little ol' me?"

Twilight smirked, looked at Rarity and Fluttershy, then back at me, "Yes." She simply stated.

Oh dear god, now… now I've gotta-

"Girls!" She announced to her two friends, "Let's get everyone else and head for the Everfree!"

Fucking hell.

* * *

Authors note -

I thought I'd finish this sooner. But I've only been working on it every 2-3 days, spending at least an hour on it. I wanted this chapter to include the trip to the everfree itself, but I'd rather end it here since it's been so long. Next chapter can have the trip and Anderson's brief introduction to the rest of the Main 6. Aka, the 'Gal Pals.' After that we'll conclude the first arc, and then focus on character devolpment and his relationships with the Main 6. I'm gonna try and avoid tropes, Anderson won't work at the Apple farm, I've got something else in mind.

Anyway, thanks, all y'all, for not answering my question asking if Anderson should be allowed to use magic. Really appreciated.

No answers comments this time, no one commented.

See y'all next time, and thanks for reading.

Next chapter - The Everfree Is ALIVE!


	15. The Forest Is Alive! (12)

The Fallen Soldier

Chapter 11

The Forest Is ALIVE!

A/N - I'm thinking about having this running gag where Anderson is interrupted anytime he tries to explain some future technology that doesn't exist or make sense. I don't know though, I'm writing this before the actual story, so we'll see if I include it. Enjoy!

* * *

Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike, all left to fetch their remaining friends for our little escapade into the Everfree. I had tried my best to talk Twilight out of it, and into just letting me go alone, but that got me nowhere. It's like talking to a wall, once the woman set her mind to something, she is very… determined to see it through. s

A trait that I respect, but hate nonetheless.

And so I sat in Twilight's giant treehouse, patiently waiting for them to return with the others. In the interim of my waiting, I had the sudden taste for some alcohol, specifically, whiskey. But I had none, and something told me that Twilight didn't drink, so I wasn't gonna bother with searching her kitchen.

So I waited. And waited. And waited.

Twilight was the first to come back.

* * *

I was staring at the flames dancing in the fireplace, watching as they moved to a rhythm I could not hear. My thoughts were everywhere, the past, the present, and the future. I could not help but think of what awaited me the day after each day. I did not belong here, and each time I had moments of peace like this, I couldn't help but think these thoughts.

My mind suddenly cleared at the sound of the door opening in the library, I could hear two female voices discussing something. One was Twilight, and the other had this accent I could only compare with the people from Appleloosa.

Southern, I believe would be the proper term on Earth.

"So where is he?" The stranger asked loud enough for me to hear.

I could not hear Twilight response.

"I'm in the kitchen!" I called out over the crackling flames.

The two women quickly made their way into the kitchen, Twilight entered first, talking all the while. "Anderson," she began, twisting to look at another woman as she walked in, "This is Applejack." Then Twilight looked at me, "She helped me pull you from your crashed ship."

That caught my interest, my eyes quickly focused on the new face.

Applejack was a tall woman, standing a smidge over 6 feet, she easily towered over Twilight, who was around 5 foot and 6 inches. She wore a pair of tan boots that looked a little aged, as well as dirty. She also had on some jeans whose colors seemed to have faded forever ago. On her torso, she wore a thick green sweater with an apple over her left breast. A colorful scarf littered in cartoon apples was wrapped around her neck, and her bright blonde hair was tied into a tight ponytail, with a simple stetson resting atop her head.

Applejack was also quite pretty. Unlike her other friends who possessed feminine features, Applejack had the appearance of a bodybuilder. Her thick sweater did nothing to hide the powerful body that laid beneath. Despite the masculine physique, her bright green eyes, freckled cheeks, and smooth yet tanned skin still radiated beauty.

Finished with my examination, I stood up from the chair I placed in front of the fireplace. Then I approached the duo and extended an arm for the woman to shake, talking all the while, "Pleasure to meet you Applejack."

She briefly looked at my armored hand and then into my eyes, she gave a toothy smile and firmly grasped my hand, "Pleasure's all mine." She replied.

Now that I stood in front of her, I got a better sense of her height and strength. I wasn't much taller than her, I was about 6 feet and 7 inches, and my armor gave me most of my height, so she is probably taller than me without my armor.

I was about to ask her some questions, but then the door was suddenly kicked open.

Fluttershy had returned with someone I'd met before.

* * *

Well more like she left Fluttershy behind and raced here.

Since I was standing in the doorway leading to the kitchen, I could easily look over Twilight and Applejack and into the library. Where I saw a familiar rainbow colored person.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight hissed, "What have I told you about kicking the door open?!"

Rainbow shrugged and look directly at me, "Ya break it ya pay it." She simply stated, now approaching me.

Twilight and Applejack moved out of the way so Rainbow could stand before me with no obstacles.

"You're taller than I remember." She spoke, eyeing me up and down.

I thought over a response, then settled with, "You're shorter than I remember."

The tiny woman was staring at my boots when I said that, she froze and slowly looked up, soon locking eyes with me. There was a challenging look in her eyes.

I used this moment to get a better look at her now that we weren't talking in the middle of nowhere with the threat of a blizzard looming over us.

Rainbow Dash had but two striking features and the first would be her short, but colorful hair. (I couldn't help but wonder if the color was natural.) The second thing that caught my eye was the blue wings that were barely visible from the front. Beyond the rainbow hair, and wings, she didn't stand out much. She wore almost the same thing as last time, a thin hoodie and some sweatpants. Her face was plain, her skin was rather tanned, and she stood a meager 5 feet and 2 inches. She was a short woman, had wings, colorful hair, and a lot of attitude. Her eyes were also pinkish, well more of a combination of red and pink. She struck me as a tomboy through and through.

Rainbow Dash did not have the looks of a model, nor the body, but she was still attractive in her own little way. No pun intended.

I stopped thinking, letting time resume. "That a insult?" Rainbow asked, narrowing her eyes.

She painted herself as the competitive type, but she was all bark and no bite. She posed no threat to me. I put a smile on my face, raising my hand and opening it, "Not at all. Nice to meet you." It seemed to me that she recognized the fake smile on my face, she frowned and hesitantly accepted my handshake.

"You better watch yourself bub, I've got my eye on you." She mumbled, looking me directly in the eyes.

A skeptic? I asked myself.

Before I could think anymore, my combat suit suddenly raised the helmet and issued a warning, one that only I could hear, however. Rainbow looked a little worried as I stood straight and started looking around. Then again, everyone else looked a little worried once I started moving around.

"Motion sensor picked-" I began, only to be interrupted by Twilight screaming,

I turned quickly and came face to face with…

* * *

A completely fine Twilight Sparkle, who was only scared by a new arrival. Said new arrival was a woman with bright and puffy pink hair. The pink haired woman grabbed onto Twilight and squeezed her cheeks, bringing her face close to her own.

"OHMYGAWDTWILIGHTISTHISTHEGUYYOUWERETALKINGABOUT?!" She spoke. Yelled.

Twilight cringed, pulling away from the woman, and looking towards me. "Pinkie Pie, this is Anderson." She smiled, "the guy I was talking about."

Pinkie's eyes widened, she inhaled a big gasp of air, and looked towards me, "Hi Andy!" She gushed, closing the distance between us in a heartbeat. She jumped on me and wrapped us in a giant hug, burying her face into my armored neck. I staggered backward from the sudden weight addition.

"You smell like metal and action!" She talked, after releasing me from the hug while still hanging onto me.

I looked down at the woman, her face was covered by the huge smile. Pinkie Pie was a name that suits her well, considering the color of her hair. Beyond the pink hair and bubbly personality, she was physically different than all of her friends. Where they were all… skinny, slim, and lacking. Pinkie was the opposite, standing about the same height as Twilight, she had much more meat on her. She wasn't obese, nor slim, she was this perfect in between. Meat where you'd want it, but not where you wouldn't want it. In short, she was thick. Looking past the physical appearance, she was wearing form-fitting jeans, a thick pink winter jacket, and some pink snow boots. And like all the others, she was attractive in her own way, though it was more physical for me. I didn't care much for her personality at the moment.

"Hello, Pinkie." I calmly replied, canceling the warning my suit issued and lowering my helmet.

She looked me in the eyes, and we stood there for a moment. Well more like I stood there and held her, while she tried to use my eyes as screens into my past. Once she was satisfied, she released me and stepped down. Stepping back to join her friends.

I opened my mouth to say something but was interrupted once again. This time by Rarity, Spike, and Fluttershy finally joining us.

"Sorry, we're late," Spike announced as he stepped inside and held the door open for Rarity and Fluttershy.

"Oh, you didn't miss much," Twilight spoke over the light chatter in the room.

Applejack and Rainbow were off in a corner talking, and Pinkie was writing stuff on a little notepad she pulled from her back pocket. She wasn't using a quill, so I wasn't too sure what she was writing with.

I turned to the arriving party, my eyes briefly flicked to Fluttershy before I settled on Rarity. "Where have you guys been?" I asked.

Rarity rolled her hand, "Oh you know darling, enjoying the morning weather."

I started to reply, but Twilight popped in from the side, "Well that's great, but we need to get ready as soon as possible. Did you grab what I asked you to?"

Rarity held up a bag, which Twilight promptly grabbed, "Good. Thank you Rarity."

She turned and walked into the kitchen, I followed her, watching as she sat the bag on the table and started pulling things out.

"What is that?" I asked, leaning on the doorway into the kitchen.

"Emergency supplies." She replied, pulling out a small knife in a sheath, then sitting it on the table next to the other stuff she pulled out.

So it's a Bug-Out-Bag? I questioned myself. For some reason, I'm not surprised she has these placed throughout Ponyville. She seems to be that special kind of paranoid. But I kept my comments to myself.

"I keep some hidden throughout and around Ponyville." She spoke as she sorted everything.

"I understand," I replied, half lying. I suppose I did just a little, in a world where dragons or some mythical creature could raid any moment, I'd want supplies ready to go as well.

"Everything's here," Twilight mumbled to herself, quickly repacking it all except the knife. That she strapped to her jeans before covering it with the jacket she wore.

I almost told her to give me the knife.

"Ok. Ok." She slid the bag onto her back and turned to face me, "Let's go find your ship."

I smiled.

(A/N - I almost ended it here.)

* * *

We started down the road, walking through town, everything was casual. We walked in a loose circle, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity walked with me, probing me with questions that varied from each person. Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy walked in front of us, along with Spike, who tried but failed to walk with Rarity.

"So what style of clothing is trending where you're from?" Rarity asked me.

"I prefer jeans and plain colored shirts," I gave my opinion. "But jumpsuits are pretty popular with humans last I checked."

"Jumpsuits?" Rarity repeated, frowning.

"Then again," I continued, "Trending styles vary from planet to planet as well as between species."

Rarity looked perplexed, "Between planets?"

"Yes." I replied, "the Milky Way - the galaxy I was born in - has several planets capable of hosting life. As such, each has sentient species that have their own culture, as well as style."

"Fascinating." Rarity smiled, "You must live a very eventful life."

I smiled at that myself, "Been all over the Milky Way since I joined the military 13 years ago. I've seen it all."

I loved talking about my military service, especially the good times. As I and Rarity talked, we kept walking. Eventually reaching the outskirts of the village, but not quite the Everfree.

* * *

Applejack was quick to start talking to me once Rarity seemed content with her questions and my answers.

"You said you've been all over the place?" She asked the curiosity was evident on her face.

"Oh yeah, I've been to all kinds of planets. Talked to all kinds of different species."

Applejack seemed to want to ask something else, but wasn't quite sure how to ask it. Though she must've figured it out.

"What's it like up there?" She suddenly asked, adding, "In space."

"Empty." I quickly replied, "There's not much out there, but it's very beautiful."

Applejack went quiet after that, our conversation ended there and it wasn't long before she sped up to join the others ahead.

We still haven't quite reached the Everfree, and Rarity was already complaining about her feet.

I sighed.

* * *

Now it was Pinkie's turn.

"Do you like cake?" She asked, appearing at my side.

"No," I replied.

"What about ice cream?"

"No."

"Cupcakes?"

"No."

"Chocolate?"

"No."

"Muffins?"

"No."

Pinkie looked down and frowned, "Oh she won't like that. What about pie?" She continued.

"Depends."

"What's your favorite kind?"

"Pumpkin pie."

"Really? What about Apple Pie?"

"Not really."

Pinkie looked down and frowned again, "Oh _she_ **definitely** won't like that."

Her questions continued until we reached the Everfree, then Twilight took over.

* * *

I could look into the forest from where I stood, and it seemed normal, like any forest I could think of. Though every book I've read on the forest seemed to paint it as this nightmarish place you shouldn't dare to approach. But it's just a forest, though perhaps there was something magical about it, something I can't... Feel.

Twilight called me over the circle everyone had formed, she was giving orders, "We're gonna form a party here. Applejack and Rainbow, I want you covering the left and right sides. Anderson, you cover the back, and I'll cover the front. The rest of you stay inside the safety circle."

And so that's what we did, Rainbow covered the left side, Applejack had the right, Twilight led us in the front, and I covered the back. Though I could cover all sides with the motions sensors in my suit, I didn't tell anyone, and decided to only warn them should I detect anything.

We kept walking, while Rainbow and Applejack continued to calmly talk with those in the center. I raised my helmet and secluded myself at the back of the group, keeping a wary eye on the woods around us. Despite its harmless appearance, it's still a forest full of dangerous animals and god knows what else. Without a gun, or weapon of any kind, I felt naked and vulnerable.

And I hated that.

* * *

Half an hour went by, and Twilight had led us from the path and down a new, much smaller one. We abandoned our safety circle and formed a line to fit on the new path. Speaking of the path, It looked fresh, unlike the one we were walking on the majority of our time spent here.

"Did you create this path Twilight?" I asked the woman ahead of me.

"Yes, I did." She called out to me, "there was no path conveniently leading to your ship, so I paved one myself with magic."

"Made it a lot easier to get ya out." Applejack chimed in.

I didn't ask any more questions and simply followed the line.

"We should be there any moment now Anderso- Aha!" She exclaimed, suddenly breaking the line and rushing forward.

Unfortunately, I couldn't see much from behind the 6 women in front of me. Especially since I had to crouch to avoid walking into the branches of trees 90% of the time. The foliage was especially thick around here. But soon I had the opportunity to look for myself, for the last person in front of me had finally stepped into the clearing around the ship. Then it was my turn to step out and look at the ship. And so I did.

But when I looked at the ship.

All my hopes and wishes came crashing down.

Half the fucking thing was gone, only the front half remained.

I think the women around me tried saying something, either to me or themselves. I wasn't sure, I had blocked them out, my focus solely on the destroyed ship and all the damage around it. Looking to my right, I could see a line of destruction from where the ship had crashed and skidded, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake. The ground and trees surrounding the ship looked black and discolored as if a raging fire had begun to take place but was quickly put out.

Without saying anything to anyone, I started approaching the ship, stepping over a fallen tree and another, and another, until I reached the ship. I think the others were following. I stood and stared at the outer hull, I could barely make out the name of the vessel on the grey metal.

SS Lipton.

My gaze traveled to where the ship was ripped in half, I walked closer and examined where the metal broke off. Nothing in my data banks could solidify any specific reason, it just looked like something picked it up and ripped it in half.

Something touched my shoulder and I turned to look at Twilight, she was talking, but I just watched her mouth move. I ignored her and returned my gaze to the ship. A million things running through my mind.

This model, this ship, it shouldn't have survived the landing. These things were never rated to land on planets, they'd burn up in the atmosphere. They're shuttles, they go from station to station, moving trooping and supplies.

How the fuck am I alive? How the fuck is this thing still even intact?

I walked around it, stopping at the giant hole in its backside. Gazing inside, I couldn't see much, everything was painted black from the fire that likely raged inside. I stepped closer, then into the shuttle itself. I flipped the LEDs in my helmet on and began looking around, the others stood outside and watched me.

There wasn't much to see, anything remotely important was ripped out. It was just a damn shell.

I turned to face everyone outside, turned my helmet light off and then lowering it.

"Did you find anyone else?" I asked, my voice neutral and calm, "I had 3 more men on here with me."

Twilight and Applejack shook their heads.

I nodded and walked past them all, following the line of destruction the shuttle left in its landing. I figured I'd find something that might have fallen out. And I did. About 40 or so feet out from the ship, I saw something buried in the ground. It was a locker for one of the Space Marines serving with me on the mission. With some effort on my end, I pulled it free of the ground. Heaving it up and then throwing it to the side. It was still fully equipped, locked, and ready for its owner to gear up, but it belonged to a fallen soldier now. And that spoke wonders to me, as I simply stared at it in turn, my focus on the standard issue rifle inside.

The others surrounded me, looking at the same box I was looking at.

"We should send this to Celestia, Anderson." Twilight mentioned, "She'd want this."

I nodded, "Yes, yes, she would."

Then I turned around to look at the ship again, and then back to the others.

"We can leave now. I've seen all I needed to see."

Rarity made herself known, "But the search was just star-"

There was a roar in the distance, making Rarity shut up and the rest of us look in the direction it came from.

"Want me to fly up?" Rainbow offered, looking at Twilight.

Twilight shook her head, "It sounded pretty far aw-"

The roar sounded again, but now it was closer, and I had a better idea of where it was coming from.

"That sounds like a manticore!" Fluttershy gasped, adding, "a very very mad manticore."

I wasted no time in bringing a fist back and punching the lock on the locker, the noise was loud and scared everyone around me.

"What are you doing Anderson?!" Twilight whisper yelled at me.

"Protecting civilians," I replied, punching the lock once again.

Twilight looked confused, then went wide-eyed when she watched me open the lock and grab the rifle inside.

"Anderson!" Twilight scolded me, "You know Celestia doesn't want you with any of these… weapons!"

The others went wide-eyed at the sight of me holding a weapon, and began to idly back away. Unsure of what was more dangerous, the manticore, or me.

I felt insulted.

Yet I pulled a loaded magazine out and inserted it into the rifle, quickly pulling the bolt back and taking aim at the direction the sound came from. My helmet automatically covered my head, and the HUD turned itself on at the appearance of a loaded firearm in my hands.

It felt good.

"Everyone get behind me," I ordered, taking quick control of the situation.

Rainbow started arguing, but the sound and sight of a manticore bursting from the woods made her and the other jump behind me.

The manticore was fighting something else, and whatever they were, there were a lot of them. Brown and wolf-like, they did not look like wolves, but they sure sounded like them. Hesitantly, I kept the rifle trained on the manticore and the 6 brown wolves. Watching as the manticore was easily overwhelmed by the repeated attacks of the wannabe wolves.

"We're leaving. Now!" I ordered, "Twilight take lead and get them out of here, I'll cover you guys and make sure nothing chases you. I'll follow once I know you're all far enough away."

"But!" Twilight tried to argue.

"Go!" I turned and yelled at everyone, briefly watching as they all started to leave.

Once they were out of sight, I turned back to the fight in front of me.

I could've left, they were too occupied with each other to mind me. But this might be the last time I hold a firearm for a while, it might be the last time I do what I do best. I looked down at the rifle and started thumbing the safety, then my mind settled on a decision.

Slowly, I started raising the rifle.

* * *

Two magazines later and I'm surrounded by pieces of wood and a dead manticore. It was a familiar feeling, to be surrounded by violence and death, one I welcomed almost too quickly. But the feeling didn't last long, the wolves weren't coming back anymore, so I was wasting time now.

I pressed the magazine release and let the mag fall to the ground, then I racked the bolt, eyeing the rifle one last time before I threw it to the ground as well.

Then I walked away.

\- End

A/N - Frankly I feel like the end was a little rushed, I wanted to have everyone play a bigger role at this point. But at the same time, I wanted Anderson to be angry, despite already knowing he would have no luck, he had hope. But now he doesn't even have that. He's stuck in Equestria now, and for better or for worse, he needs to accept that. From here on, it's all gonna be about Anderson trying to settle in, and the problems he may face.

Favorite, follow, review. Tell me what you think, either good or bad. Criticism is welcome.

Next chapter - And So Life Continued On


	16. And So Life Continued On (13)

The Fallen Soldier

Chapter 13

And So Life Went On

* * *

I was sitting on a small stool, a well-aged doctor stood before me.

Lightly gripping my left arm, she asked, "How's that feel? Any pain? Discomfort?" Before moving it in slow, broad, circles.

It's my cybernetic arm.

"No pain," I replied, quietly watching as she prodded the point on my shoulder where the arm attached to my shoulder.

Her finger struck a tender spot where the metal was burned onto flesh, making me hiss in pain.

She removed her fingers, then stated the obvious, "I see you're still tender from the surgery."

I spoke up, "It's only around the bolts that keep the joint in place."

The doctor stepped back, "Of course, that's to be expected. They were drilled into your shoulder after all." She pulled a small tablet from a pocket in her fatigues, I quietly watched as she typed something.

"Now" She began thumbing through a list on the tablet, "we need to discuss the many enhancements we added during your surgery. Mind you, all of this was paid for by Uncle Sam."

I frowned, "How much of myself do I even own at this point?"

The doctor - not even looking away from her list - responded, "You signed the contract, you knew the sacrifices." She finally looked at me, "Now, It should be known that as a member of the new 8th generation of Amahs agents, you've received some technologies that are blocked to the general population. To start us off, I'll walk you through the implants we've had installed inside your head."

She proceeded to name off a rather large list of cybernetic cranium implants I received. Well, I say large, but it's only around 8, which is still quite a bit to fit inside someone's head.

When she finished explaining the last implant, she paused, then asked, "Do you understand everything I have told you so far?"

I nodded, "Yes ma'am."

"Good." She replied, then returned to looking at her list. "Next we have your mechanical augmentations. In this case, we've replaced your missing arm with the latest military model from Sertiff Arc Industries, the Sertiff Prosthetic Arm series 9, it's capable of performing the many tasks someone of your caliber can find useful. We've also taken the liberty of upgrading the cybernetic legs you previously had, they have also been replaced with the latest military models from Sertiff Arc."

"You guys have some kind of deal with Sertiff?" I asked out of genuine curiosity.

She looked at me and said, "We give them money, they give us results," then thumbed at her list once again. "Now for the others…"

There was a loud knocking at the door of the room, "Anderson!" Called an authoritative voice.

The doctor sighed, "Seems like you wanted elsewhere, go ahead and see what they want."

I nodded and stepped down from the table, as I approached the door the doctor made one final remark. She asked, well... More told me, "Could you tell Staff Sergeant Gunny that I don't like being interrupted when I'm looking over my patients."

I turned and replied, "Yes ma'am, I sure will."

Without ever looking up from her tablet, she said, "Thank you, Anderson. Oh, and once you're done with whatever, do come back."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

The knocking was back, and so was the cry of my name, "Anderson! Breakfast is ready!"

It was Spike.

"I'll be down in a moment!" I yelled back.

The voice didn't respond, and I could hear the sound of little feet disappearing downstairs.

Silence filled the air.

I continued to lay there for a moment, then, slowly, I awoke from my slumber and stretched out on the tiny ass bed in Twilight's guest room. I smacked my lips together, then rose to my feet. Directly in front of me was a window covered in a blandly colored curtain. To my right, a small dresser with an even smaller mirror atop it. To my left, a desk with a journal I had recently began writing in. Behind me was the bed meant for a gnome - not literally, it's just a small fucking bed - and behind that was a small closet void of everything except a few hangers.

It's the guest room. It's my room. It's my new home.

Stepping forward, I pushed the curtain aside, letting the morning light invade my room. The clock on my HUD told me it was 7:11 in the morning, I had finally got the proper time from Twilight days ago and adjusted my personal clock. Yes, days ago. It's been 4 days since I ventured out into the woods and faced reality.

I suppose I'm handling it all well, all things considered, I only lounge around and stare at the ceiling until I fall asleep.

Next, I turned to my dresser, it was empty, I still own no clothes. My armor is all I've worn since arriving, but I realize that it must go, I'm wasting energy that could prove fruitful for the future. Though I didn't approach the dresser to sulk at my lack of possessions, I leaned down at looked at myself in the mirror.

At least I still look the same. Same brown eyes, same crooked nose, same scar on my cheek, same buzzed haircut, same round head. I wasn't the worlds most handsome man, my crooked nose, glowing cybernetic eyes, and the protruding metal octagon-shaped tray in my forehead made sure of that.

I scare people, all these augmentations tend to do that. Most stop at replacing a limb or two, some go beyond, but they're limited to what the government decides for them. Me? The government decided how much was too much for me, luckily for me, my body handles augmentation better than others.

Lucky me.

After I finished admiring my face, I turned and approached the door, giving the room one more look before I made my way downstairs.

The smell of eggs and pancakes filled the air, and as I stepped into the kitchen, the smell of fresh coffee also struck me. My host, Twilight Sparkle, sat alone at the small 4-person table in the middle of the kitchen. She held a mug full of coffee in one hand, while her other was occupied with writing. Her reptile assistant, Spike, wore a white apron with a heart on the front, he was the one fixing breakfast.

I announced my presence with a lazy, "Good morning everyone," while making my to the cupboard holding all the dishware, I opened it and pulled a clean mug out while also closing it. Turning to the coffee pot, I poured myself some and took a seat at the table with Twilight.

Without looking up from what she was writing, she began talking to me, "Good morning Anderson, any plans for today?"

I sipped my coffee, "The usual."

The 'usual' meant sitting around all day because I don't know what to fucking do with myself.

Twilight frowned and sat both her mug and quill down, she looked at me, "Anderson…"

But I cut her off, "Actually, I think I'm gonna go see Rarity. Might get myself some clothes, so I don't have to wear the armor anymore."

She liked that response much better, "That's great Anderson, any idea as to when you'll go? She normally opens at 8am."

"I'll go when she opens."

"Fantastic. You'll be back in time for our scheduled talk correct?"

Ah. The scheduled talk. Nothing says 'new life, new world', like being questioned for over an hour. I hate these sessions, I'd rather do something. ANYTHING.

Twilight seemed to sense my distaste in our 'talks', because she added, "We won't be discussing anything too deep today. I just wanna know how you're handling everything, and I want to show you a program I've been developing to help you settle into your new life in Equestria."

Oh great, even better.

Sighing, I finished my coffee, "Yes, Twilight. I will be back in time for our talk."

For as annoying as it all is, I know she's doing all this to help me. I appreciate it all, but the transition from my previous life to… this will never be smooth. The only reason I'm handling this so well is because of my training.

She smiled, "I look forward to showing you all that I've planned." She glanced down at her notes and went wide-eyed, "Or I can show you now!"

I shook my head, "No thanks. Let's keep business off the kitchen table, please."

She frowned, "But we've plenty of ti-"

Twilight was cut off by Spike placing a plate of food in front of me. He turned to Twilight, "Please move your papers Twilight, otherwise, you're not getting food."

Twilight came at the reptile with a short scolding over not interrupting people. I sat back and ate my food, quietly listening as the two bickered back and forth.

* * *

I arrived at Rarity's shop about 8 minutes after she opened. The walk was peaceful, as many people were still in bed, or already at work. Personally, I had hoped that Rarity would just let me purchase surplus clothing she had. I understand that she's known for mostly hand-making her products, but she has to possess a number of spare clothing somewhere.

That's what I hoped for as I entered the store, my entrance was accompanied by the ringing of a bell above the door. A very proper lady-like voice sang from the back.

"I'll be there in a jiffy darling~" She yelled/sang from the back.

As she hurried to finish whatever she was doing, I took the time to look around. Several mannequins were spread throughout the room, most of them being positioned behind the two massive windows on both sides of the front door. Each human-sized doll was dressed in suits, dresses, or very fancy casual clothing with some rather nice leather jackets. Before I could admire the leather jackets anymore, Rarity came out from the back.

She was dressed nice, as she was any other time I've seen her, but it was less 'social-nice' and more 'I-need-to-work-but-still-dress-nice' kinda look. Her hair was also tied up.

Rarity seemed surprised to see me, evident by her tone and wide eyes as she spoke. "Anderson?! I must say, it is rather strange to see you here."

I walked closer to the counter, "Believe me, this place is too nice for my blood, but you're the only place I know of that sells clothes."

She smiled, "You're finally taking that… dreadful armor off?"

My armor is clean, thank you very much.

"Yes, the armor is going, and hopefully a comfortable outfit is gonna replace it."

The woman brightened up considerably, "Well then, I'm more than willing to help you."

I looked past her and at the door, I assumed led to her workshop, "You're not too busy?"

She waved her hands, "Not at all, darling. My orders in the winter tend to drop quite considerably, I often use this time to develop my craft while designing clothing for the next year." She beckoned me behind the counter and into the backroom, "Now come, let's get you measured."

I followed her behind the counter, "Alright, but how much will this cost me? I only have 32 bits."

"It'll be free darling." She replied from in front.

My legs stopped mid-motion, "What do you mean 'free'? Aren't you running a business?"

Rarity turned to me, "Of course I am, but you're a special case. Now come on."

Not one to refuse the kindness of others, or free shit, I resumed the walk to the back, "Okay, well thanks, I guess." Was my lame response.

"Of course, dear. Now, if you'd strip yourself of your armor and stand in front of those mirrors, we'll begin."

The backroom was more-or-less what I expected. It was a clutter of many things, one wall hosted a long table feature-full of partially-worked on pieces of clothing. Another had a small desk with what looked like paper with sketches on it, beside it was 2 large filing cabinets likely full of more designs and sketches. There was also an odd system rigged on the other side of the room, it was basically 2 long pieces of metal with different kinds of clothing hung on it, it looked organized, but at the same time, it didn't. Finally, there was a decently sized wood circle with 3 large, fancy, mirrors around it.

I assumed that's where she wanted me to stand.

"Where do you want me to leave my armor?" I asked her while turning to watch as she shifted over to the desk for a single line of measuring tape.

"You can leave it on one of the tables, darling." She replied from across the room, still searching for that measuring tape.

Before I started doing anything, I had one thing to do.

"I need underwear." I bluntly stated.

Rarity stopped searching and looked at me, without saying much she grabbed a pair from the long rack of clothing and threw them at me. I thanked her and disappeared behind the changing room conveniently close to the wood stand.

Initiating the removal process, I had the armor off within moments, then I slid the boxers on. Next, I neatly organized my armor into a pile and carried it out with me, walking to the tables, I sat it on top and turned to Rarity.

Her eyes were as wide as saucers, her mouth agape, she looked horrified.

Ah.

I forget that no one really knows about my augmentations.

Playing it cool, I asked, "Is something the matter Rarity?"

With what I would call record recovery time, she managed to close her mouth and ask, "What….. What happened to you!"

Lazily, I glanced at my lower body. What part was she talking about? My arm? The legs? The scars all over my body from the many surgeries or wounds I've sustained throughout my military career? The possibilities are endless and mysterious to me.

Not one to beat around the bush, I answered her question, "I've had some limbs replaced, now if we could get on with this."

She quietly followed me to the wood stand, where I stepped up and turned to face her. Rather than look her in the eye while she did this, I chose to stare forward. The room was dead quiet when she got close and extended the measuring tape with her arms. Slowly, she began to take my measurements, hesitating when she reach my metal limbs, places where the metal and skin were fused together, and anywhere else I had a nasty scar.

The need to fill the silence filled me, "If you wanna ask about a scar you can, each one has a story."

Though it was a shitty way to break the ice, she ultimately spoke up, "A-are you in any pain?"

I looked at her eyes, which were glued to the place where my cybernetic arm was attached to my shoulder. It's a common question augmented people receive, the way the metal was grafted and bolted onto the skin looks very painful.

My response, "No. The pain stops a week after the initial surgery, then you're sore for a month until your body adjusts to its new member." Was all she got.

"Well, it certainly looks painful." She mumbled, taking the measurement of my hips.

"That's it?" I asked her, "All you wanna ask?"

She stopped measuring and looked up at me, "Frankly, Darling, it isn't any of my business. And whatever… event that transpired in order to cost you your arm and legs." She paused, "Well, I'd rather not know."

"Fair enough," I replied.

Silence filled the room again, I watched Rarity stretch the tape from my hip down to the floor, right next to my foot.

"You're a soldier, correct?" She asked, standing up and turning to walk to her desk.

"Yes, ma'am."

I watched her write numbers on paper, likely my measurements.

When she finished she turned around to me, "Have you found work for yourself yet?"

Something was off here, I didn't like her tone, though I didn't suspect anything dangerous, just tedious. On instinct, I decided to joke with her, "You want someone dead, Rarity?" Admittedly, it wasn't very appropriate considering who I was talking to.

Rarity took it in strides, "Not quite," she smiled, "what I do need is a fresh supply of gems."

Gems? I made a show of patting my thighs where I'd normally have pockets. "Afraid I left my diamonds in my other pants."

She laughed, "Oh, I'm sure you did Anderson. But joking aside, I'd be willing to pay you if you'd be so kind as to assist me in locating a large number of gems."

The thought of getting paid intrigued me, but I needed information before I agreed to anything. Asking questions was a healthy habit I've gained from my service in the military.

"Why so much?" Was all I asked, mostly because I couldn't imagine many uses for precious stones.

A twinkle appeared in her eyes, and passion filled her voice as she spoke, "I have a design in the works, you see, and it requires a hefty amount of gem to… dazzle it." She finished.

Right. Dazzle.

The urge to increase the weight of my coin pouch filled me, "Okay… I'll help you hunt for gems, just come get me at Twilight's when you're ready."

She smiled, "Many thanks Darling," her eyes traveled downwards, "Now how about you put your armor back on and I'll see if I can't find some spare items that somewhat match your measurements."

My response was a quick, "Of course," before I grabbed my armor and stepped into the dressing room once more.

* * *

Stepping out of the dressing room, I adjusted the helmet and retracted it. Rarity was patiently waiting for me, bag in hand. Said bag was quickly put into my hands not long after stepping out.

"Here we are," she opened it, letting me look inside, "3 pairs of jeans, shirts, boxer briefs, socks, and a little stocking I normally reserve as a 'thank you' for customers that spend a lot. Oh! And a simple coat, nothing too special, but it'll keep you warm."

I was at a loss of words, lord knows I've never meant a person so damn generous.

My tone remained neutral, but a hint of happiness was present, "I… Thank you... Rarity. This really means a lot to me."

She beamed, "My pleasure, Darling."

Though the sweet moment was ruined by the cry of a small female voice from upstairs, "Rarity!"

The woman before me sighed, "You'll have to fetch shoes and a belt from the local Cordonnier, or cobbler as some call him. You'll find him next to the Blacksmith, just ask Twilight for directions. Now if you don't require anything else, I'll take my leave to attend to my lovely sister."

Our transaction was done, and it was time for me to leave, "Of course, Rarity, thank you again for everything."

"Consider it my welcome to Equestria, Anderson, now I bid you goodbye." She turned and left.

I followed her, but broke off in the front and left through the front door. My mission for today was almost done, all I need now is shoes and a belt. Luckily I already knew where the blacksmith was, I've passed it a few times in my nightly runs. These runs aren't too special, sometimes I just can't sleep so I get up and run for a while. Been all over Ponyville at night, real quiet place when the lights go off.

With a quick pace, I made to the Cobblers in a record time of 9 minutes. Unlike Rarity's store, the design of this place was not unique at all, practicality was the purpose here. But I wasn't here to criticize the design of the building, so I pushed the door open and stepped out of the cold and into the warmth of the Cobbler's shop.

* * *

It smelled of leather and oil, a rather pleasing combination I might add. The inside was as simple as the outside, two shelves on each side of the room contained a number of shoe designs at different sizes. He kept his boots on a separate wall, the designs for these were more simple, and the quantity didn't even equal ⅓ of his shoe count.

Like the door from Rarity's, there was a bell that rang as it opened and shut. Unlike Rarity's, there wasn't a good-looking woman to greet me, instead, all I got was an old man with graying hair. I'm sure he knew his shit though. He's sizing me up, I can feel it, his eyes stopped on the bag in my hand.

"Straight from the Boutique, huh? Owners a sweet gal, her sister though… Gonna be a handful when she's older."

I sat the bag down and approached the counter, "Spoiled?"

He looked off into the distance, remembering something, "If only you knew the half of it."

An ominous answer.

"Not the reason you're here though," he smiled, "So what's a man like you need? Boots?"

"Boots and a belt." I replied, "Budget is 32 bits."

The Cobbler scratched his chin, then leaned over the counter to look at my feet, "S'plenty for what I've got in mind. Wait here a moment." He left for his backroom.

* * *

"Here we go." The Cobbler announced his arrival, setting a leather belt and a pair of boots in front of me.

The boots were pure leather, while the inside was lined with fur. They looked very comfortable, and very warm, too bad my metal feet can't feel anything.

"Price?" I asked, picking a boot up and inspecting it.

"Pair is 25 bits. The belt is 6." He answered.

"Done." I wasn't gonna bother with negotiating a better price, he seemed like the kinda guy to reject it anyway. I'm sure he's been doing this long enough to know the value of what he makes.

I emptied my coin pouch onto the counter, he counted it all out and slid a single bit to me.

My hand reached out and slid it back, "Keep it." Then I turned to leave, adding the boots and belt to Rarity's bag.

"Thanks!" He shouted as I left, "Come again!"

When the door shut, I figured it was time to head home.

* * *

Half-way on my way back, it began to lightly snow. By the time I reached home, I had to shake myself off to rid my armor of it all. I kept the bag tightly shut to prevent snow from getting inside.

My entrance into the library was accompanied by the ringing of a bell, a sound I was beginning to get tired of. Nobody welcomed me, so I went straight to my room, took off my armor, and tried on the clothes Rarity gave me. Everything fit, which didn't surprise me.

While wearing nothing but boxers, I decided to take a shower. And so, clothes in hand, I left my room and bee-lined for the bathroom. As quick as I could, I jumped in and cleaned myself. Within 4 minutes I was out drying myself off. By the time I had boxers and a pair of jeans on, the bathroom door suddenly opened. My only response was to turn and just look at whoever decided to enter without knocking.

It was Twilight.

Her hair was a mess, and she looked like she just woke up, which she probably did. When she set eyes on me, not only did she instantly focus on my bare chest, but I could feel her gaze on my arm.

Didn't last long though, "Oh my Celestia! I'm so sorry!" Was all she said before she slammed the door and scurried off.

I sighed and finished dressing.

-End-

A/N

 **Hey, guess who's back. Yes, you guessed correctly, me!** **Yay!**

 **I've got nothing much to say really, next chapter will come when it comes. And comment, I guess, I haven't updated in a while, yet I'm still at 17 reviews. What the hell guys. This story has thousands of reads. But I digress.**

Next Chapter - Twilight's "Plan"


	17. Twilight's 'Plan' - 14

The Fallen Soldier

Chapter 14

Twilight's "Plan"- 01/? - Anderson and Work

A/n - Yes, I realize that Twilight is acting very different compared to the last chapter. A negative side-effect of these long spans of time between each chapter. Show me some love y'all and I might try a little harder to get these out. 17 reviews, ppl, 8k views. Wth guys.

* * *

I had finished dressing not long ago, dropped my towel with the other used ones, and made my way downstairs. I was hoping Twilight wouldn't act too awkward about our little encounter we had minutes ago. It was an accident, she didn't mean to walk in on me and I know that for a fact. Besides, she doesn't strike me as that kind of woman.

When I stepped into the kitchen, several things became apparent to me. For one, the kitchen table was a mess. There was papers here and there, an empty ink vial, a single broken quill, and an overly excited Twilight Sparkle.

My favorite combinations.

At the realization of my presence, Twilight shot up and gave me a beaming smile. "Ohh, Anderson! Glad to see you're out! I drank some coffee and finished working out the kinks in my plan to help you find a place here in Equestria. I think you'll like what I got planned for you!"

On the bright side, she doesn't seem all that bothered by the incident we had.

I took a seat opposite of her at the table. My eyes landed on the mug sitting in front of all her papers. Briefly, I wondered about the amount of sugar she put in her drink. And if she uses her work to distract herself from the things that bother her.

Eventually, I responded to her, "What, pray tell, do you have planned for me?"

Twilight threw her arms out as she leaned back into her chair, narrowly avoiding smacking her coffee mug. "I've been developing a step-by-step plan to help you feel comfortable in Equestria."

Oh great.

She continued, "Using information taken from tourist books for Equestria amongst other social behavior books, I've compiled the quickest and most efficient way for you to feel at home." Twilight stood from her seat and brought over a scroll, which she laid in front of me on the table.

Glancing at it, nothing, in particular, stood out. In all honesty, most of the stuff on it is what your mom might tell you after you transferred to a school full of strangers.

I read some of them aloud, "Make friends, participate in local traditions, join a club, get a part-time job." I stopped and looked at Twilight, "This is what my mom told me when we arrived at our new place on the Aurora 17 years ago."

Twilight looked perplexed, then a full range of emotions flashed across her face, ultimately ending on sad.

"You don't like it?" Was all she said, the hurt plentiful in her features.

Ignoring her sudden change in personality, I started rubbing my eyes. "What I don't like, _Twilight_ is whatever the hell you're putting in your coffee."

She looked confused.

"The plan is fine Twilight," I huffed, continuing, "I do appreciate you taking the time to make it for me. But you should've asked if I ever needed one before you started making it." I took another glance at the plan, some of the steps had little notes written in the margin that looked like Twilight transcribing her very thoughts onto the paper. A cute touch, but pointless as they seemed to contribute nothing to the end goal.

 _Introduce Anderson to Zecora? Ask if Applejack would hire him? Ask Princess Celestia for advice?_

These were some of the margin notes, the others were similar. Either they would be Twilight entertaining the thought of introducing me to people she knew herself, places she thinks I could get a job, and her wondering if Celestia might have the answer. There was a pattern to her thinking.

"How about we start with some more basic things?" I asked while looking up from the scroll.

"Like what?" She replied.

"I don't know… what about getting a job?" I placed a finger on the step labeled 'Get Anderson a Job'.

"Don't you want to meet new people?" She countered, referring to the previous step which involved me meeting some of the village folk.

With no well-thought-out response, I opted for a simple, "I can do that later."

She raised a hand to her chin, pondering my response, eventually, she finally answered. "Okay… that can work. But what kind of work would you be interested in?"

She asked.

Although I know my particular talents have no use in Ponyville, I find myself with little to no interest in changing careers. That said, I doubt anyone is looking to hire someone of my caliber.

Not that they could afford me.

Yet the times are changing, for better or worse, I need a source of income if I'm gonna be stuck on this forsaken planet. Regrettably, I asked Twilight, "what did you have in mind?"

At that, her eyes lit up.

* * *

"My first instinct was to see if Applejack was looking for an extra farmhand. She pays well and the work is hard, which is something I assumed you'd be okay with." Said Twilight.

I nodded my head in response, giving a simple, "right," to her talking every now and then. At the moment I was quietly walking beside her as she took me to some places she knew was hiring.

Twilight lectured on about my interests, somehow managing to work in a lesson on the social behavior of humans. I tuned her out for most of it, only really paying attention when she would directly mention my name, or when she'd go silent for more than 3 seconds. From what I've gathered in the few days I've spent living with the woman, silence is bad, as Twilight is a talker.

While lost in my thoughts, I hadn't realized she went silent, and when I looked over at her all I was met with was her angry face. "Are you listening to me, Anderson?" She asked.

"Yes." Was all I replied, but I assumed it wasn't enough, so I added, "you were talking about how human behavior is derived from where and how a person is raised."

Twilight was satisfied with that answer, "Yes. I believe… Never mind on that Anderson, we're here."

We stood in front of a… rather peculiar building that looked like a disgusting combination of sugary treats. The main building looked like a gingerbread house, there were giant deposits of (hopefully fake) icing all over, a cupcake at the top, and a chocolate horse holding a candy cane?

 _What in the everlasting fuck? Who built this? Why? How have I not seen this before? It stands out so much compared to the other buildings!_

Twilight spoke, breaking me from my internal confusion, "this is Sugarcube Corner. Home of handmade Cake family and Pinkie Pie." She gestured for me to enter.

While grimacing once more at the building, I stepped forward and grabbed the door handle, pulling it open just enough to allow Twilight entrance. She thanked me as she entered, I grunted in response as I followed behind her.

The inside was a much more normal, at least in my standards. Colors were significantly suppressed compared to the outside, and while candy stayed a consistent theme for the inside, it was minimized. It also smelled really good in here, like freshly baked cakes and treats.

For but a brief moment, I had a flashback to my younger years. Of when I came home after school and walked into my mother cooking a cake for me and my dad. She got onto me for ruining the surprise, as I wasn't supposed to come directly home. I had skipped my after-school activities that day in favor of playing my games.

I smiled, radiating nothing but happiness at the memory. Then I remembered I wouldn't be seeing my mom anytime soon, and that smile disappeared just as fast.

Suddenly I felt homesick, which is a rare thing for me considering the amount of moving I've done.

I wanted the thought gone, so I started talking to distract myself. "So what's the deal here Twilight? You trying to get me to unleash my inner chef?" I joked.

She rolled her eyes, "No, Anderson. Well.. actually yes, yes I am trying to get you to unleash your inner chef." She smiled, "The Cakes' could use extra help with the orders they get during the winter and the month after. It's not hard work - that is to say, baking is not hard work, you can do it, Anderson." She began to approach the counter.

I followed her, "I just don't know if baking is really for me? Y'know?"

"You won't know until you try it!" She replied over her shoulder taking no time to look at me.

"You realize who you're talking to right, Twilight?" I stopped walking and shoved a thumb into my chest, "I'm a well-tuned fighting machine who comes from a version of humanity who is advanced in ways nobody on this planet will ever see. I can't just go from what I've spent the last 13 years doing too… baking cakes! No offense to the Cakes'." I added.

Twilight turned to me, her hand hovering above the bell on the counter, she moved it and crossed her arms. "Okay, Mr. Supersoldier, what else do you have planned?" She stepped closer to me, lowering her voice as to not cause a scene in the partially busy bakery. "If you haven't noticed Anderson, Equestria is not the most suitable place for warmongering men."

I went quiet at that. In all fairness I was throwing a tantrum, I needed to take whatever job I could get my hands on. Baking may not be what I spent the last 13 years of my life training for but it pays. It's just… difficult. This whole thing is just a huge shitshow and I think it's all starting to get to me. My irritation with the world was starting to show and I'm taking it out on Twilight.

Twilight, probably for the sake of comforting me, gave a soft smile and said, "Just give it a few more weeks Anderson. I'm sure you'll fit right in!"

For some reason that set me off.

I spoke no words, for I feared what I may say to the woman. Instead, I stared. Intense and unrelenting. It was a vain attempt to transfer what I felt right now into the mind of the person before me. The staring bore no fruit as it, at worst, made her slightly uncomfortable.

Before I did anything stupid out of anger, I put the reins on and tried to soften my stare. "What other places _do_ you have in mind, Twilight?" I asked her, hiding the anger as best I could.

Twilight gulped and looked past me, "Well besides Sugarcube Corner, I had planned on taking you to the local bookstore, and then the General Store if that didn't work. Beyond those, I only considered the local restaurants and the remaining family-owned businesses that could afford an extra hand."

The General Store caught my interest, as working at a bookstore struck me as a horrible mistake.

I spoke my mind, "We should go to the General Store."

Twilight glanced at the counter, which was now manned by a bubbly looking woman taking orders. "What about here? Don't you wanna at least ask?" She asked me, looking down at the ground.

"No," I instantly replied, the venom in my voice very apparent. Suddenly, I felt remorse for how I was treating Twilight, I know she's just trying to help. I quickly continued much softer this time, "It's just… baking isn't for me Twilight. I can cook a mean steak, but I never liked baking."

She looked me in the eyes, searching for something ==when she found that something, she sighed. "Okay Anderson, I can understand, I guess." She started for the exit, "let's go to the General Store."

"Okay," I replied while following her.

* * *

We walked in silence, none to my surprise.

Twilight looked like she wanted to say something, and I could see her glance at me through the corner of her eyes. But she never did, likely because she feared what I might say in response. When I considered this, I realized how little the woman actually knows about me. How uncomfortable she might be having a grown she hardly knows live with her. And how little I know about her.

I've lived with her for a few days now, most of our conversations involve her asking me questions, then stopping when she knows I'm tired of answering or the silence in our talks grows too long. There are awkward moments with her, Twilight is a relatively attractive woman, and I try to not look at her in that way so I don't make things worse. But I must admit Twilight is a very… careless person, or perhaps clumsy better suits her? I do not know. But she wears skirts a lot when inside, and she often climbs up to fetch or put books away on the shelves. Get where I'm going with this? I don't wanna outright call her out on it, but I've seen male visitors to the library take peeks. I do my best to combat this, a good stare often scares most men, which are very passive in Equestria. Likely due to Equestria's peaceful culture, nobody really knows how to stand up for themselves in ways that matter. But maybe that's just the military in me talking.

Where am I going with this? Oh yes, the poor relationship between me and Twilight. How can I improve upon it? I don't shut her out when she talks to me, I just don't bother to keep the conversation alive once it starts to die. Maybe I should actually bother? Perhaps tell her how I feel about all this? I guess I'll start talking and see where that gets us.

"I'm sorry Twilight." Was my ice-breaker.

The woman next to me gave shocked expression, quickly, she brought an arm up and tried to dismiss my apology. "Oh, you're fine Anderson. I know I can be a little intense with my ideas sometimes." She babbled on a little more, flexing her fantastic social skills.

When she stopped, I began again, "I wasn't trying to be rude back there. But…" I took a deep breath, "I'm just not too happy about everything happening to me."

If she was shocked before, then she must be petrified now. I can see it in her eyes, _Anderson… telling me how he feels?!_

She didn't say anything, so I kept going. "Twilight, do me a favor and look at everything from my perspective. When I first woke up a few weeks ago, I woke to two people trying to drill into my armor. I had no idea where I was, and the information I did find confused me even more. I went from riding a transport-shuttle in the year 2479 to being strapped down on a hospital bed in the late 1800s. I was arrested by a foreign military and sent to see the 'big man'. Turns out, I'm on a planet inhabited by mythical creatures and magic casting humans. And to make matters worse… I'm stuck. Can you imagine that Twilight?"

I looked at her, she shook her head.

I continued, "Equestria is a great place, I would take this place over an untouched planet any day. But everybody keeps telling me that I'll get used to living in here quick and easy! News flash Twilight! I've lost everything and everyone I cared for! Can you imagine that Twilight? I've lived in the Milky Way my entire life, I've met so many different people, different species! I've been to so many different but beautiful planets! I had a family that I loved! Friends who I cherished and would do anything for! I had a house and a few acres of land on Earth that I looked forward to retiring on! I had a car, a motorcycle, and vast collection of guns I've inherited or purchased myself!"

At this point, I wasn't even talking to Twilight. I was simply shouting at the skies, venting everything.

It felt good.

I stopped walking, "There was a girl as well, who I loved and wanted to see again more than anything." My focus turned to the ground, my tone turning somber, "I'll never see her again. I won't be there on my Mom's 60th birthday and those after it. I won't get to retire as an accomplished military veteran. I'm here… forced to bake cakes or man a register at a small town general store for what'll likely be the rest of my days."

I turned and looked Twilight dead in the eyes, "Can you imagine that Twilight? Everything I'm losing? How hard I'm trying to stay optimistic about everything? No. No, you can't, and you never will."

I started walking again, she stood there a moment longer, staring at my back. Then, with a jolt, she began following me. Once she caught up, I turned to her, "that's how I feel Twilight. But I'll be fine, venting helped me. Now tell me about this general store."

She didn't reply first, but did so after a moment, "Uh, it belongs to one of the oldest families in Ponyville. She almost sold it a few months ago but decided to keep it in the family once her son said he wanted the responsibility."

"And you know this how?"

She replied, "It was the talk of the town when it happened, that and Rarity's tendency to gossip also helped."

Rarity is a gossip? I'll keep that in mind when I tell her things.

"What's the pay?"

"Well, the country-wide minimum wage is 8 bits an hour. This general store is one of the older and considerably popular with those who don't enjoy the busy side of the public market. Prices are also set in stone and non-negotiable."

"Cool." Was all I added.

What followed was silence, I did not want this. "So tell me Twilight, how do you feel about me living with you? You can be honest, it won't hurt my feelings."

Twilight seemed unsure but began talking after I encouraged her once more.

"Well… at first, I was a little nervous. Princess Celestia sent me a letter asking if I would host a guest from out of this world. In a moment of excitement, I agreed.

And I was very excited to make your acquaintance, but when we first met… I was a little scared of you at the same time."

She looked at me, well it was more of a quick glance to see how I was handling what she was saying.

Twilight continued, "Here you were… tall, armored head to toe… Anderson, you looked dangerous! Like a robot straight out of one of Rainbow's comics! Yet you were the opposite of what I expected, you've always been polite and well-mannered, and you always tried to appease my curiosity. But you kept yourself secluded from me and Spike. And don't think I don't know about those night-time runs you've been doing lately! While not bad in nature, if anyone saw you running dressed in your armor…"

I stopped her, "Yes, yes, people would be scared."

She huffed, "I think you're a good guy Anderson. And It's true I did not fully comprehend the gravity of your situation, and that I'll never understand how you feel, but I'll try to be better about that."

I went to thank her but she kept going.

"As long as you promise to open up a little more! You can't expect to live happy by isolating yourself from everyone! D-Do you think your parents would want that?" She hesitated at the involvement of my parents.

They wouldn't. _She_ wouldn't.

I shook my head.

"Then promise me that you'll try harder!"

I swallowed the saliva in my mouth, "I promise to be better, Twilight."

Twilight persisted, "a simple promise isn't good enough Anderson. Pinkie Pie swear to me!"

Confused, I simply looked at her.

"Repeat after me, Anderson. Cross my heart-" she made the motion.

I mimicked her words and movement.

"- hope to fly - " she flapped her arms.

Despite the absurdity of it all, I copied her once more.

"- stick a cupcake in my eye." She pretended to jab a pastry into her eye.

I did the same.

Satisfied, Twilight gave me a beaming smile and crossed her arms. "Good! Even I know that underneath all that armor and fancy technology you have, you're still human!"

I went silent at those final words. Not many understand how it feels to have someone tell you that, _especially_ when you're augmented. Not that Twilight knows of the social gap between the non-augmented and the augmented.

"That I am, Twilight." I looked at the building next to us, "is this the General Store?" I asked her.

"Yes," she responded, "we arrived a while ago but, uh, our talk put off the introductions."

I smiled and opened the door for her, "ladies first."

She smiled in return, "Why thank you!" She said, entering the store.

I followed her inside. A new feeling of content put some extra pep into my step.

END

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 **Authors Note - Well, that was a doozy. I think that was the most emotional chapter I've written? This also makes Anderson the deepest character I've ever made. My previous attempts at writing him, as well the original version of this story never touched upon these feelings. What I want to establish is that despite all the killing he's done, the surgeries he's gone through, or the limbs he's had replaced. Anderson is still human! He had a life before being stranded in Equestria, he has goals, dreams, wishes, friends! He lives a very eventful but successful life. Now he's lost it all, something he'll never truly get over or accept. He'll just have to live knowing that.  
**

 **Anyway, enough about Anderson. I'm sure most of you don't care about him. Review this story, my fellow readers! I want feedback! How can or should I improve things?! I basically write for myself as no one ever replies. Sure, maybe it's due to all long I take to update, but that's shit!**

 **Reader! Why can't YOU! The person reading this! Leave a review?  
**

 **Well, whatever. Next chapter will come when it comes.**

Next Chapter - Anderson, the Register, and a Talkative Customer


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